Category: Health

Preliminary health data from the first 10 days of August reveals a sharp rise in viral infections, particularly Influenza-like Illness (ILI), across Hyderabad’s urban and peri-urban settlements. The data, compiled by the Helping Hand Foundation (HHF) from 12,575 patient visits to its 12 Primary Health Centres, shows that infectious diseases made up half of all consultations (6,323 cases). Of these, 70% were viral illnesses resembling seasonal flu, while bacterial infections accounted for 19%, fungal infections 7%, parasitic infections 1%, and other infections 2%. The HHF centres serve over 100 urban slum clusters in areas including Tolichowki, Rajendranagar, Kishan Bagh, Hasan Nagar, Kala Pather, Pahadi Shareef, Jalpally, Shaheen Nagar, and Errakunta. Apart from infectious diseases, many patients reported body pain, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, fever with chills, and skin rashes — with headaches and body pain alone making up 36% of these non-infectious complaints. “Most cases resolve within a week, but the severity of fever and pain is prompting people to seek hospital care, sometimes visiting multiple clinics despite the illness being self-limiting,”— Dr Usaid Ahmed, CMO, HHF Shaheen Nagar Health Centre Dengue fears have also been high — over 3,000 dengue tests were conducted last week, though most came back negative. Typical influenza cases involved high-grade fevers (102°F or higher, often worse at night), severe body aches, headaches, nausea, and occasional cough or cold. HHF conducts annual fever surveillance during the monsoon to track trends and initiate preventive measures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday emphasized the urgent need to scale up research, innovation, and collaboration in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) across South-East Asia—a region bearing nearly half of the global TB burden. A Region Under Strain According to the WHO, nearly 5 million people in the South-East Asia region developed TB in 2023, and close to 600,000 died from the disease, reaffirming TB’s status as the world’s leading killer from a single infectious agent—particularly post-COVID-19. “In our region alone, nearly 5 million people developed TB and close to 600,000 died from the disease in 2023,” said Dr. Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge for WHO South-East Asia. She called for urgent, collective action to achieve the End TB Strategy targets, which aim for a 90% reduction in TB deaths and 80% drop in new cases by 2030 (compared to 2015 levels). Progress Is Real—But Not Enough While there has been a significant recovery in TB case notifications since the COVID-19 setback, progress remains insufficient. The region saw a drop in missed TB cases to 22% in 2023—a major improvement from 44% in 2020. Additionally, the treatment success rate reached 89% for patients who began therapy in 2022. The WHO praised several innovative tools being used in the region: Despite these gains, TB continues to disproportionately impact the poorest and most vulnerable, with 30% to 80% of TB-affected households in the region facing catastrophic costs—highlighting the need for people-centred care and stronger social protection mechanisms. Innovation and Research Landscape The virtual three-day workshop, organized by WHO, brought together TB programme managers, researchers, civil society members, and health partners to address ongoing challenges. Dr. Boehme warned that progress remains uneven, with research and innovation capacities varying across countries. She added, “The results of these efforts are often siloed and unavailable for collaborative use. The rise in drug-resistant TB is also very concerning.” However, many country-level innovations are worth noting: WHO noted that more than 3,000 TB-related research articles have been published by South-East Asia member states in the last six years—60% of which are original studies. However, limited knowledge exchange platforms and uneven uptake of research remain key barriers. The Road Ahead To meet global TB eradication targets, WHO calls on all stakeholders to: “The momentum is there, but we must ensure no one is left behind,” said Dr. Boehme, stressing the urgent need to turn knowledge and innovation into scalable, actionable solutions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday emphasized the urgent need to scale up research, innovation, and collaboration in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) across South-East Asia—a region bearing nearly half of the global TB burden. A Region Under Strain According to the WHO, nearly 5 million people in the South-East Asia region developed TB in 2023, and close to 600,000 died from the disease, reaffirming TB’s status as the world’s leading killer from a single infectious agent—particularly post-COVID-19. “In our region alone, nearly 5 million people developed TB and close to 600,000 died from the disease in 2023,” said Dr. Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge for WHO South-East Asia. She called for urgent, collective action to achieve the End TB Strategy targets, which aim for a 90% reduction in TB deaths and 80% drop in new cases by 2030 (compared to 2015 levels). Progress Is Real—But Not Enough While there has been a significant recovery in TB case notifications since the COVID-19 setback, progress remains insufficient. The region saw a drop in missed TB cases to 22% in 2023—a major improvement from 44% in 2020. Additionally, the treatment success rate reached 89% for patients who began therapy in 2022. The WHO praised several innovative tools being used in the region: Despite these gains, TB continues to disproportionately impact the poorest and most vulnerable, with 30% to 80% of TB-affected households in the region facing catastrophic costs—highlighting the need for people-centred care and stronger social protection mechanisms. Innovation and Research Landscape The virtual three-day workshop, organized by WHO, brought together TB programme managers, researchers, civil society members, and health partners to address ongoing challenges. Dr. Boehme warned that progress remains uneven, with research and innovation capacities varying across countries. She added, “The results of these efforts are often siloed and unavailable for collaborative use. The rise in drug-resistant TB is also very concerning.” However, many country-level innovations are worth noting: WHO noted that more than 3,000 TB-related research articles have been published by South-East Asia member states in the last six years—60% of which are original studies. However, limited knowledge exchange platforms and uneven uptake of research remain key barriers. The Road Ahead To meet global TB eradication targets, WHO calls on all stakeholders to: “The momentum is there, but we must ensure no one is left behind,” said Dr. Boehme, stressing the urgent need to turn knowledge and innovation into scalable, actionable solutions.