Tuberculosis in the Borough of Newham - Essay Example

Tuberculosis in the Borough of Newham, the most affected area is east and the northern parts of Newham- London Contents Introduction: 3 Rationale: 3 Discussion and Findings: 7 Determinants of Tuberculosis in an urban health set up  7  Consequences and implications of Tuberculosis 7 Policies, Prevention and Awareness: 9 Recommendation and Conclusion: 10 References: 11 Introduction: Tuberculosis, a disease infectious in nature, has affected almost one third of the world population and spread of this killer disease is growing steadily at a pace of 1% of the total population each year (World Health Organization, 2002). It was widely believed that Tuberculosis has affected the developing countries only because of the poor immune system they have undergone, but that turned out to be false (Dye et al, 1999). Tuberculosis has become a major threat in the UK over the past decade, and, although most developed countries have achieved substantial methods to reduce the spread of this disease, rates in the UK continue to rise (The Lancet, 201, p.1431). It is mainly is concentrated in the eastern region of London, in the east and northern parts of Newham- London (bbc.com. 2013). This study is intended to discover the reason for which Tuberculosis in UK is a primary issue and the impacts and remedies of this disease (Public Health England, 2013). Rationale: Over the past 20 years, the incidence rate of tuberculosis has doubled in London, though it has remained fairly constant elsewhere in England & Wales. In 2007, 39% of patients with tuberculosis in England & Wales lived in London (Kochi, 1991). The number of TB cases increased severely after 2005, and then it became stable and again continued to rise. It is also seen that the highest number of affected were from the east and North West London, primarily the Newham and Brent location (Tuberculosis in London: Annual review, 2012). Figure: TB rate by local authority of residence, London 2012 (Source: Public Health England, 2012). Newham has always been the places with the most diverse ethnic minority population in the whole UK. The wide ethnic diversity of population in Newham has made it a unique part of UK with a rich variety of cultures. Newham is often considered as one of the most deprived borough in London (Public Health England, 2012). Many people spend their livelihood in this city in poor housing and overcrowded conditions. The diseases residing inside become fully fledged when they are exposed to the poor living conditions (York, 2013). As the number of people in an affected zone increases, the disease become more and more severe, ultimately affecting the majority of London. (Source: Public Health England, 2012, p.9). Demographic Characteristics: It is observed that 58% of the affected are male and the age group is 20-39. The statistical data showed that highest rates of TB continue to be among the people having age group 20-29. This is shown in the figures: Figure: Age and sex of tuberculosis patients, London, 2012 Figure: Tuberculosis case rates by age group, London, 1999 – 2012 (Source: Public Health England, 2012, p 12) As the disease spreads, more people infects, and as a result rate of decease due to Tuberculosis increases significantly (Zaman, 2010). Discussion and Findings: Determinants of Tuberculosis in an urban health set up  The key determinants of Tuberculosis in urban health set up are: 1. Exposure to infection: It is found that TB patients subjected to incomplete, delayed or ineffective treatment are the key reason for spreading this disease. 2. Susceptibility to disease: Lack of vaccination facilities and other risk factors like malnutrition, diabetes, cigarette smoking and other immunosuppressive conditions increases the susceptibility of the disease. 3. Ill Timed and in-appropriate treatment: Missed diagnosis opportunities due to poorly trained medical staff or lack of drug availability causes treatment failure and spread the disease (Hargreaves, 2011).  Consequences and implications of Tuberculosis The consequences and impact of tuberculosis are as follows: Physical consequences: i) Lung Damage and Death: If the disease is not diagnosed and treated accordingly, it can be fatal and can ultimately result in death. ii) Meningitis: sometimes TB infection can spread to brain causing Meningitis. iii) Arthritis: In rare cases, a TB infection may spread to the joints, causing TB arthritis (Busse, 2010). Economic and Social Consequences: i) Treatment costs: The underestimated direct treatment costs of tuberculosis is often turned out to be high enough for the socially poor patients to afford. ii) Non-treatment costs borne by patients and family: Earnings lost in diagnosis and treatment of TB is much higher than the treatment cost of the disease and it is, in general, borne by the family members of the patient (Ahlburg, 2000). The impact of tuberculosis on urban health are mainly the physical aspects. Physical implication: The disease can lead to other infectious disease, can spread to other people and can result in death of the patient. Economic impact: The cost of treatment and the medicines, diagnosis and non-treatment costs borne by the patient and their family members cause significant impact on the economic condition of the patient (Ahlburg, 2000). Psychological and Social impact: Psychological and social discrimination can occur due to people’s attitude towards the victim and members of their households. Policies, Prevention and Awareness: From the above discussion it is evident that Tuberculosis needs to be addressed in a proper way. As TB is the matter of high priority in the Newham region, most of spread can be decreased through reduction of treatment time of TB, careful and detailed search of the infected victims and by awareness campaigns (Health Protection Agency, 2011). This awareness program can greatly influence the people’s perception about the disease and assure them that by using right treatment, this disease can be cured completely. Delay in diagnosis of the disease, high degree of clustering of crowd can only be removed if the awareness program is well directed. With addition to awareness program certain future recommendation programs can be deduced (Department of Health, n.d.). Recommendation and Conclusion: A commission should be established and there should be support towards highly targeted case findings and initiation of prevention activities in an urgent basis, focusing on the high risk groups. The commission and the people associated with diagnosis and treatment of the disease must be under a guidance procedure to treat tuberculosis and there must be an awareness program to break the perception of the invincibility of the disease (Royal College of Nursing., 2012). There should be high Support to the victims and keeping contacts of the potential and already affected victims (Hayward et.al., 2010). There is a need of an adequate review system to monitor and gaining feedback of the treated patients as well as a Tuberculosis detection surveillance team with adequate manpower and preventive resources (Griffith, Kerr, 1996). References: Ahlburg, D. 2000. The economic impacts of tuberculosis. The Stop TB Initiative. [Online]. 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