US increases funds for combating drug-resistant tuberculosis (27/03/07)
 

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is increasing its contribution to the global fight against tuberculosis (TB), the airborne infectious disease that is especially deadly to people whose immune systems are compromised by HIV/AIDS.
 
 
The rate at which people developed TB in 2005 was level or even declined slightly compared to 2004, according to the biannual World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Control Report released March 22, but the actual number of TB cases continued to rise slowly because the world population is expanding.

A serious barrier to TB control worldwide is a form of the disease called extensively drug-resistant TB, which can develop when some treatment drugs are misused or mismanaged.

"PEPFAR takes the issue of extensively drug-resistant TB very seriously," U.S. Global Aids Coordinator Ambassador Mark Dybul told members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health March 21. "In response, we have increased the fiscal year 2007 commitment for TB/HIV efforts by providing $50 million more than originally planned."

"Almost 60 percent of TB cases worldwide are now detected and out of those the vast majority is cured," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a March 22 statement. "Over the past decade, 26 million patients have been placed on effective TB treatment thanks to the efforts of governments and a wide range of partners.

Source: USINFO

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