Skip to content

When you choose to publish with PLOS, your research makes an impact. Make your work accessible to all, without restrictions, and accelerate scientific discovery with options like preprints and published peer review that make your work more Open.

PLOS BLOGS Speaking of Medicine and Health

Announcing the PLOS Tuberculosis Channel

Soumya Swaminathan and Madhukar Pai announce the launch of the PLOS Tuberculosis Chanel

This post also appears on the PLOS Channels & Collections Blog.

Today, World TB Day, sees the launch of the PLOS Tuberculosis Channel. Channels are resources for communities: a single destination that features curated content selected from PLOS journals as well as the broader literature, supplemented by commentary, blogs, news and discussions. The content included in a Channel is selected by experts in their field, known as Channel Editors.

Tuberculosis kills more people today than HIV and malaria combined. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide and 1.8 million TB deaths. Six countries account for 60 per cent of the total burden, with India accounting for 27 per cent of the global cases, followed by Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. Of the 10.4 million new cases, the WHO estimate that only 6.1 million were detected and officially notified. This left a gap of 4.3 million cases that are considered ‘missing’ – either not diagnosed, or not notified to TB control programs. Drug-resistance is a growing threat in many settings, and there is an urgent need for improved drug regimens, vaccines and diagnostics.

The Tuberculosis Channel features articles on all topics relevant to TB research. The Channel editors aim to showcase the most up to date research to assist various stakeholders in the fight against TB, including academics, healthcare workers, policy makers, implementers, patients, and civil society.

The Tuberculosis Channel was developed with the McGill International TB Centre, and the India TB Research and Development Corporation. The scope of the Channel was developed with the Channel Editors, who will be responsible for curating the content that goes into the Channel.

Meet The Channel Editors

SwaminathanSoumya Swaminathan

I am currently the Secretary, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, as well as the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). As Director General of the ICMR, I lead a collective of more than 25 national research institutes across India (including two dedicated to TB and other mycobacterial diseases) and five regional medical research centers. I was previously Director of the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT). I am a huge advocate for TB research and recently launched the India TB Research and Development Corporation (ITRDC), a flagship initiative by ICMR, that aims to bring together all major national and international stakeholders to develop new tools (drug, diagnostics, vaccines) for TB.

You can find me on Twitter @doctorsoumya

PaiMadhukar Pai

I am a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health at McGill University, Montreal. I am the Director of McGill Global Health Programs, and Associate Director of the McGill International TB Centre. I serve as a Consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I also serve on the STAG-TB committee of WHO, Geneva; Scientific Advisory Committee of FIND, Geneva; and Access Advisory Committee of TB Alliance, New York. I am on the editorial boards of Lancet Infectious Diseases, PLoS Medicine, eLife, PLoS ONE, International Journal of TB and Lung Disease, among others. My research is focused on improving the diagnosis of TB, and on measuring and improving quality of TB care in high burden countries. I am a huge advocate of open access publishing.

You can find me on Twitter @paimadhu

Check out the PLOS Tuberculosis Channel: channels.plos.org/tuberculosis

 

Featured Image Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Add your ORCID here. (e.g. 0000-0002-7299-680X)

Back to top