[17 March 2017, Beijing] – Ahead of World TB Day 2017, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., today launched a new initiative called Lung Tree Care to help tackle tuberculosis (TB) and Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in China.
Through Lung Tree Care, Xian Janssen will engage in a range of activities and collaborations to increase disease awareness and improve patient care, starting with an inaugural TB Caring Week, which begins today and will gather momentum towards World TB Day on March 24.
TB Caring Week kicked off with an event in Beijing, which brought together partners to discuss progress in tackling the disease. Xian Janssen President Asgar Rangoonwala was joined by Xu Shaofa, President of the Beijing Chest Hospital and Director of the Clinical Centre on Tuberculosis (CCTB) of China CDC, and Hu Ningning, Vice Secretary-General of the China Primary Healthcare Foundation.
The event also heard from Yan Xiaodong, a former TB patient whose popular blog charted his recovery from the illness, and saw the launch of a new Xian Janssen-sponsored disease awareness and education program.
Further activities throughout the week leading up to World TB Day on March 24 will include public disease education activities, TB prevention and treatment knowledge lectures in communities, free TB consultations and volunteer activities.
Hu Ningning, Vice Secretary-General of the China Primary Healthcare Foundation, said: “the World TB Day is an important moment to bring people together to unite to end TB and to encourage action, greater public awareness, support for patients, appropriate use of available treatments.”
TB claimed an estimated 1.8 million lives worldwide in 2015, including 400,000 deaths resulting from TB among people living with HIV.[1], and remains one of the top threats to global public health. China remains one of 30 countries with the highest TB burden globally, as identified by the World Health Organization, with approximately 900,000 new TB cases confirmed each year[2].
MDR-TB is a form of TB characterized by resistance to the two most powerful drugs in the first-line regimen, isoniazid and rifampicin[3], meaning patients have considerably reduced options for tackling the disease. In 2015, an estimated 70,000 people in China developed MDR-TB[4].
“It is our shared belief that one of the most effective ways to tackle TB and MDR-TB is to promote better understanding, and to show how partnership and combined effort can help tackle the disease,” said Xu Shaofa, President of the Beijing Chest Hospital.
Yan Xiaodong, a former TB patient and a host of the popular TB forum on baidu.com, who spoke at the forum, said: “TB places a huge burden on patients because of the length and complexity of treatment – in addition to other factors like the social stigma that surrounds the disease. With increased awareness and a more sustained public conversation, we can build a more caring environment for patients to recover.”
“We understand the significant unmet medical needs and challenges surrounding the treatment of TB and MDR-TB. The aim of TB Caring Week is to further elevate this public health issue, promote wider understanding of the dynamics of TB and MDR-TB, and to show how partnership and combined effort can help overcome the disease,” said Asgar Rangoonwala, President of Xian Janssen. “Today we are renewing our commitment to improving public health in China, and in particular tackling the threat posed by all forms of TB.”
The new programs announced today complement an existing collaboration between Xian Janssen and the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (NHFPC) on MDR-TB Control and Prevention Program co-launched in 2011.
Under this initiative, the parties established a national remote and educational tele-platform for MDR-TB control within the CCTB. Some 156 TB hospitals in 30 provinces and regions have connected to the platform to participate in remote medical treatment consultations, case reviews, and a distance learning program.
About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we are working to create a world without disease. Transforming lives by finding new and better ways to prevent, intercept, treat and cure disease inspires us. We bring together the best minds and pursue the most promising science. We are Janssen. We collaborate with the world for the health of everyone in it. Learn more at www.milechemical.com.
About the Lung Tree Care
The Lung Tree Care initiative provides an overarching framework for Xian Janssen’s TB activities in China, as part of a partnership approach to helping improve disease awareness, treatment and care for patients.
The Lung Tree Care initiative is a strategic program of activities aimed at addressing unmet needs in TB control in China, which includes supporting MDR-TB prevention efforts and programs that improve understanding around the importance of appropriate use of antibiotics when treating the disease.
Just like a tree whose branches stretch out in all directions but come together in one body, the campaign name “Lung Tree Care” symbolizes the importance of partners working together under the same goal of preventing TB and supporting those already infected. The tree also represents the importance of healthy lungs and reminds us why preventing the further spread of TB is so critically important.
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For more information, please contact:
Wei QIU
Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd.
Tel: 010-5821 8310
E-mail: wqiu7@ITS.JNJ.COM