THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- December 16, 2017- Topic 2

Feed the cure: On paying TB patients

The Central TB Division has said the government would hand over a sum of Rs.500 a month to each of India’s 35 lakh diagnosed TB patients in order to strengthen the fight against the disease. The funds are intended to offset the loss of wages due to TB, and to help with travel and nutrition. Yet, much more needs to be done to protect TB patients from the effects of malnutrition, which has a complicated relationship with TB. 

An early study from a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany in the 1940s showed that Soviet inmates, who didn’t receive extra rations from the Red Cross as their British counterparts did, were around 16 times more likely to develop the disease. Since then, evidence linking low body mass index and nutritional deficiencies with higher rates of disease has piled up. It is a vicious cycle, because TB itself triggers malnutrition by hurting the patient’s appetite. One calculation suggests that half of all adult Indian TB patients get the disease due to malnutrition. Sadly, despite the evidence on the TB-diet link, it is still not clear how best to fix the problem, given the lack of research into interventions that can speed up recovery. A few small-scale studies have looked at cure rates among those patients consuming cereal-lentil powders or micronutrients such as Vitamin A and zinc, with mixed results.

But lack of data isn’t a justification for inaction. In a guidance document this March, the Central TB Division proposed extensive interventions to tackle the problem. One recommendation was to double the rations under the public distribution system to families of TB patients, so that they are less likely to contract the disease. Because TB patients also need a high protein intake, the document recommends a second set of supplements, such as oilseeds and dried milk powder, which they wouldn’t have to share with the family. Given these recommendations and the scale of India’s malnutrition problem, the proposed assistance of Rs.500 may not make any dent, especially if patients are not counselled on their ideal diet. India needs to fine-tune these interventions with further evidence so that policy can be more precisely targeted. Do pre-packaged protein powders work better than rations of cereals and pulses? Do TB patients need more of certain vitamins and minerals than healthy people do? These are difficult questions to answer. A recently announced 2000-subject study by the Indian Council of Medical Research in Jharkhand may go some way in plugging this knowledge gap, but more research is required. A better diet is a no-brainer for an illness like this, historically called “Consumption” because of how it ate away at patients. But understanding what constitutes such a diet, and making sure that patients get it, isn’t as straightforward.

Vocabulary

Diagnose: identify the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms.

Example: Doctors diagnosed a rare and fatal liver disease

Synonyms: identify, determine, distinguish, recognize, detect, pinpoint

Intended: planned or meant.

Example: The intended victim escaped

Synonyms: deliberate, intentional, calculated, conscious

Complicate: make something more difficult or confusing by causing it to be more complex.

Example: Middlemen can complicate the process

Synonyms: make more difficult, make complicated, mix up, confuse

Inmate: a person confined to an institution such as a prison or hospital.

Example: In recent times, actions against prison authorities by inmates have become increasingly common.

Synonyms: prisoner, convict, captive, detainee, internee, jailbird

Evidence: the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.

Example: The study finds little evidence of overt discrimination

Synonyms: indicate, show, reveal, display, exhibit, manifest, testify to

Appetite: a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food.

Example: He has a healthy appetite

Synonyms: hunger, ravenousness, hungriness, taste, palate

Intervention: the action or process of intervening.

Example: They are plants that grow naturally without human intervention

Plugging: mention a product, event, or establishment publicly in order to promote it.

Example: During the show he plugged his new record

Synonyms: publicize, promote, advertise, mention, bang the drum for, draw attention to

Assistance: the provision of money, resources, or information to help someone.

Example: Plans offering financial assistance to employers

Synonyms: help, aid, support, backing, reinforcement, succor, relief

Precisely: in exact terms.

Example: The guidelines are precisely defined

Synonyms: accurately, exactly, clearly, distinctly, strictly