"Ethics and social determinants: key elements of tuberculosis prevention, care and control" is a Supplement to the June 2011 issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (available online now), which offers a collection of 12 papers aimed at filling major gaps in these two areas and promoting further research and debate to result in a more comprehensive response to the TB epidemic.
The Supplement leads off with an editorial from The Union's Ethics Advisory Group that examines the role of social and economic factors in TB control and the ethical aspects of how TB control is applied.
An editorial on why ethics matters plus four articles have become the basis of a new WHO guidance document on ethics of TB prevention, care and control. They discuss TB in diagnosis and treatment, health care worker obligations in providing care for TB patients, public health measures and TB and ethical dilemmas in TB research.
"Tuberculosis: still a social disease" is an editorial on social determinants that sets the stage for the issues discussed in articles on the social determinants of health globally, the impact of cash transfer and microfinance on TB risk factors, innovative socio-economic interventions against TB (ISIAT), measuring socio-economic data in prevalence surveys, and modelling the impact of social determinants on TB control.
This Supplement was developed by The Union's Working Group on Ethics and Social Determinants headed by Prof Anne Fanning, with Ernest Jaramillo, Knut Lönnroth, Andrew Ramsay and Andreis Reis serving as Guest Editors. Support was provided by the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and the Stop TB Department of the World Health Organization.
To download this open access supplement, click here.