The NPF Newsbag

It Will Take Your Breath Away

Doctors who treat lung diseases are looking for a little respect. They make no bones about the fact that they need some press. After all, everyone knows about cancer, at least in wealthy countries. We use sunscreen, get mammograms, run 5Ks, wear pink ribbons, endow hospital wings.

To a lesser extent, it’s the same with heart disease. The manufacturers of packaged food have slapped “heart-healthy” labels on everything from cereal to snack foods. We all know that aerobic exercise is good for our hearts, even if most of us still don’t get enough of it.

Recognizing Excellent Work on TB

Having spent four days immersed in the science and politics of lung disease, I’ve begun to appreciate the difficulty of reporting on it. The stories are seldom obvious, and often hard to tell. That’s why the awards presented this week to three National Press Foundation fellows are so important. Charles Mpaka of Malawi, Carlos Fioravanti of Brazil, and Neway Tsegaye of Ethiopia won first, second and third place, respectively, in an annual contest called the Stop TB Partnership Award for Excellence in Reporting on Tuberculosis, sponsored by the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership. Links to their stories are here. How did they do it?

Old, Messy, Poor: TB is forgotten, but not gone

“Tuberculosis is forgotten but not gone.”

Peg Willingham said it this morning, but the message had begun to be absorbed by Thursday, when National Press Foundation fellows attended a daylong symposium organized by the Stop TB Foundation in Cancun, Mexico. A range of experts kept asking the same question: Why can’t we get the media to pay attention?

Thinking about tobacco

As a former smoker, and the mother of a smoker, I have a personal interest in tobacco, but I hadn’t thought of it lately as a story for journalists. I mean, what is left to say? We all know that smoking is bad for us, right?

 NPF President Bob Meyers has been heard to say that tobacco is the rare legal product, which – if used as intended – can kill you. But tobacco growers and cigarette manufacturers are still at work, legally producing, marketing and selling all manner of deadly smokes. Surely, there is a story there.

 Sinead Jones, head of Tobacco Control for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, offered up some ideas on Wednesday for NPF journalist fellows here in Cancun, preparing for the 40^th Union World Conference on Lung Health.

How about the fact that tobacco use as an epidemic is transitioning from wealthy countries to the developing world, where it damages not only health, but wealth? Imagine spending more than half a day’s wage for a pack of cigarettes. It happens in some 20 countries, many in Africa. Did you know that smoking is linked not only to cancer, cardiovascular disease and respiratory illness, but to more than 50 unhealthy conditions?

“It really is a systemic poison,” Jones said. A resource for journalists looking for new ways to write about tobacco: www.tobaccoatlas.org – lots of stats and useful information, including global maps that are rich with information on more than 25 smoking-related issues.

-- Linda Topping Streitfeld

Tuberculosis is still with us. Surprised?

Under a bright sky, at the edge of an ocean outlined in powdery white sand, the NPF staff is teaching – and learning – about tuberculosis.

“TB?” you ask. "Is that old disease still around?"

You bet it is. Tuberculosis kills 1.8 million people worldwide every year, WAY more than lots of public health threats that have gotten a lot more ink. Think SARS (813 dead); avian flu (6,250); anthrax (5).

Our two-day journalist training program is aimed at helping 14 fellows from 11 countries understand the science and the sociology of this Rodney Dangerfield of killer diseases. They’ll also be attending the 40^th Union World Conference on Lung Health here in Cancun, Mexico.

The author, doctor and scientist Lee Reichman, our first formal speaker this morning, asked an important question: Why does tuberculosis affect one third of the world’s population and remain a global health threat, despite the fact that highly cost-effective drugs are available to treat it?

There are lots of reasons, of course, including the length of treatment – the SHORT course is six months. And there are no new drugs, though various groups are working on new ways to diagnose, treat and vaccinate us against TB. We’ll hear more from some of them a bit later in this conference.

It’s clear that there is not enough money devoted to TB control; that the health-care infrastructure is inadequate, and that lab capacity is weak; and that infection control in hospitals is poor. It's also clear that not enough people are talking about tuberculosis.

A final important note that we’ll hear more about: TB is the leading cause of death among HIV-positive people. They are far more likely to develop active TB once infected, and HIV and TB are a lethal combination. Each infection speeds the other’s progress.

How can we develop stories around these facts? We’ll be talking about it here in Cancun. We’d love to hear your comments.

-- Linda Topping Streitfeld