Global plan to defeat TB

Plans to defeat tuberculosis around the world have been unveiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Published in this week’s edition of the Lancet, they build upon previous preventative directly-observed treatment short courses (DOTS) by focusing on “multi-drug resistant TB” and on the role HIV infections play in spreading the disease.

Although the WHO has treated 22 million people in the last decade, 8.8 million continue to catch the disease every year.

“With a strategy and related plan, the framework to succeed is in place,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO’s Stop TB campaign.

“However, the financing gap of $30 billion requires substantial increases in domestic and international commitment.”

Experts predict that at present rates tuberculosis will not be reduced in line with millennium development goal targets for 2015, despite significant charitable contributions from organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation, which has pledged $900 million.

“The tuberculosis fraternity has unified in stating its strategy,” writes Professor Alimuddin Zumla, director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health at University College London, in his introduction to the essays on TB in the Lancet.

“Now it is up to developing country governments to fully commit resources to tuberculosis control, and for donors to provide catalytic financial aid.”

Tuberculosis is one of the three deadliest diseases in the world, killing two million people every year compared to HIV’s three million and malaria’s one million.

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