Public Health Law and Policy: Briefing Note on Tuberculosis Policy

This briefing note, prepared for the Minister of Health and Justice, addresses the pressing issue of rising tuberculosis cases and proposes a policy change focused on preventive measures, specifically vaccination. The note details the background of the issue, highlighting the disease's impact on low and middle-income populations and the strain on healthcare systems. It analyzes the financial, social, and cultural implications of the proposed vaccination policy, considering factors such as cost, community acceptance, and cultural beliefs. The document explores alternative policy options, including public education, curative drug provision, and quarantine measures. The recommendation is for the ministry to adopt the vaccination policy, considering the provided policy options and the potential for improved living standards and health outcomes for vulnerable populations. The report is thoroughly referenced with academic and governmental sources.

Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 1
Public health law and policy
Name
Institution

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 2
TO
FROM
DATE
SUBJECT
Purpose of the note
1. The essence of the briefing note to the ministry of health and justice concerned with
the health policy proposal to aid in preventing the spread of the infectious disease
within the country. The need for preventing the rising cases of tuberculosis infection
has been a health burden and leading cause of death in some low and middle-income
countries. The proposed health policy of finding a preventive measure for the
infectious disease that is tuberculosis will aid to reduce the number of death cases
and the burden of treating the infected people.
Background information
2. The thesis of the briefing note presented to the ministry of health and justice is about
the policy change for finding an alternative preventive measure for infectious
tuberculosis within the country. The note into details addresses the need for such
drugs and education resources to enlighten members of the society on some personal
preventive measure they should practice. There have been increasing reports about
tuberculosis within the country as most of the affected members are the low and

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 3
middle-class people whose financial status are very low compared to other members
of society (Floyd, Glaziou, Zumla & Raviglione, 2018).
3. High prevalence of tuberculosis has been a burden to most of the households and
health care centers since the death rate caused by the infectious communicable
disease has been rising daily. Therefore the need to prevent and control this
infectious disease is urgent and should be urgently reviewed by the ministry of health
and justice to save the lives of the infected households (Frick, von Delft & Kumar,
2015).
4. Congestions in the local health care centers have been also witnessed as most of the
patients admitted are suffering from tuberculosis which has rendered some of the
health centers unsafe for other patients to die to its communicable nature. Due large
number of infected people, there is a shortage of drugs in most of the health facilities
for curing tuberculosis thus forcing some patients to move to private hospitals for
treatment which is very expensive concerning their financial status (Uplekar, et al.,
2015).
5. The need for vaccination policy proposed to the ministry of health and justice as one
of the preventive mechanism for tuberculosis is very urgent since many lives are
been lost daily specifically children below five years of age.
Issues analysis for the proposed health policy
1. The proposed health policy that is the provision of vaccines for tuberculosis as a
preventive measure is associated with the following issues or impacts to the members of
the society which financial, social and cultural issues as discussed in the context below.

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 4
Financial analysis
2. Vaccination drugs for preventing the outbreak of tuberculosis among the households has
been a major challenge in controlling and preventing the spread of tuberculosis due to the
huge cost of such vaccines. Due to the cost of purchasing tuberculosis vaccines, there is a
call for government intervention to provide tuberculosis vaccines for preventing the high
prevalence of tuberculosis among the families (Kamarulzaman, et al., 2016).
3. Provision of the tuberculosis vaccines will reduce the treatment cost incurred by most of
the families who are affected by the outbreak of tuberculosis since the cost of curing the
disease is very high in terms of the drugs and medication services as the patient will be
isolated to prevent infections from spreading.
4. Provision of the vaccine against tuberculosis as one of the preventive policy proposed to
the ministry of health and justice will also be economical to the government as a whole
since the cost of providing drugs to cure tuberculosis in case of outbreak will be needed
as most members of the community would have been vaccinated against the diseases
hence they are hardly infected upon outbreak (Khan, Schwanke Khilji, Saw & Coker,
2016).

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 5
Social analysis
1. The social analysis of the proposed health policy to the ministry of health and justice
conducted within the members of various communities on their take concerning the
policy proves that almost the sampled members were for the policy. The policy was
supported by most members of society since better health and safety is one of the
social responsibility in most of the sampled communities. Following high prevalence
of tuberculosis within the society, the need for the vaccine against tuberculosis has
been rising since tuberculosis is highly infectious and the whole society is at risk of
contracting the deadly disease (Marais, 2015).
2. Socially, the proposed health policy will benefit the whole affected communities as
the rising death rates caused by tuberculosis will be curbed. Through the vaccine
being advocated for, the lives of the people and their health status will improve as the
disease will be completely prevented hence ensuring healthy citizens.
Cultural analysis
1. Curbing the death rate caused by tuberculosis infection is culturally accepted since
death according to the cultural beliefs and practices was not accepted or welcomed as
it causes agony within the community. Therefore vaccination policy in an attempt to
prevent and control then spread and impact of tuberculosis will positively impact
cultural beliefs and practices.

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 6
2. The proposed policy of vaccine provision by the ministry of health and justice is
according to the cultural beliefs and practices since they both aim at curbing the
death rate within the community which is the main cultural practice and belief for
most of the community (McLaren, Milliken, Meyer & Sharp, 2016).
Policy options
1. One of the policies option to be considered by the ministry of health and justice is to
educate members of the public on other alternative preventive measures against the
infectious disease. This will be economical to the government since they will be
guided on the safety health practices they are expected to observe in preventing the
spread of tuberculosis. Education services will play a bigger role in preventing the
high prevalence tuberculosis within the society as most of the risk factors of
tuberculosis are associated with personal and environmental hygiene (O’Reilly,
d’Aquila, Fonner, Kennedy & Sweat, 2017).
2. The second option the government can alternate with proposed health policy is to
provide curative drugs for tuberculosis to control the death cases caused by the
infection. Provision of drugs in most of the public healthcare will help to curb the
death rate as drugs will readily available to the admitted patients at an affordable cost
(Oster, France & Mermin, 2018).

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 7
3. The third option to alternate the proposed health policy that is the provision of
tuberculosis vaccines is identified as the quarantine method. This involves restricting
the movement of people from or to regions where the outbreak tuberculosis has been
reported. This will help to prevent the spread of the disease to other areas due to its
airborne nature (Hoppe, Kettle, Eisenhut & Abubakar, 2016).
Recommendation
1. The ministry of health and justice should consider the proposed health policy to prevent
and control the spread and death cases caused by tuberculosis.
2. The ministry should consider the alternative policy options provided during the policy
analysis.
3. With consideration of the vaccination policy proposed, the living standards and health
status of the people with low income will improve.
Prepared by
Approved by
References

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 8
Floyd, K., Glaziou, P., Zumla, A., & Raviglione, M. (2018). The global tuberculosis epidemic
and progress in care, prevention, and research: an overview in year 3 of the End TB era. The
Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 6(4), 299-314.
Frick, M., von Delft, D., & Kumar, B. (2015). End stigmatizing language in tuberculosis
research and practice. Bmj, 350, h1479.
Hoppe, L. E., Kettle, R., Eisenhut, M., & Abubakar, I. (2016). Tuberculosis—diagnosis,
management, prevention, and control: summary of updated NICE guidance. bmj, 352,
h6747.
Kamarulzaman, A., Reid, S. E., Schwitters, A., Wiessing, L., El-Bassel, N., Dolan, K., ... &
Altice, F. L. (2016). Prevention of transmission of HIV, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus,
and tuberculosis in prisoners. The Lancet, 388(10049), 1115-1126.
Khan, M. S., Schwanke Khilji, S. U., Saw, S., & Coker, R. J. (2016). Evidence to inform
resource allocation for tuberculosis control in Myanmar: a systematic review based on the
SYSRA framework. Health policy and planning, 32(1), 102-109.
Marais, B. J. (2015). Twelve-dose drug regimen now also an option for preventing tuberculosis
in children and adolescents. JAMA pediatrics, 169(3), 208-210.
McLaren, Z. M., Milliken, A. A., Meyer, A. J., & Sharp, A. R. (2016). Does directly observed
therapy improve tuberculosis treatment? More evidence is needed to guide tuberculosis
policy. BMC infectious diseases, 16(1), 537.
O’Reilly, K. R., d’Aquila, E., Fonner, V., Kennedy, C., & Sweat, M. (2017). Can policy
interventions affect HIV-related behaviors? A systematic review of the evidence from low-
and middle-income countries. AIDS and Behavior, 21(3), 626-642.

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW AND POLICY 9
Oster, A. M., France, A. M., & Mermin, J. (2018). Molecular epidemiology and the
transformation of HIV prevention. Jama, 319(16), 1657-1658.
Uplekar, M., Weil, D., Lonnroth, K., Jaramillo, E., Lienhardt, C., Dias, H. M., ... & Gilpin, C.
(2015). WHO's new end TB strategy. The Lancet, 385(9979), 1799-1801.