Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) kills about two million people each year, making it one of the world’s leading infectious causes of death among young people and adults. One-third of the world’s population is infected with TB. Five to 10 percent of people who are infected with TB become sick with TB at some time during their life. Each year, more than 8 million people become sick with TB. Due to a combination of economic decline, the breakdown of health systems, insufficient application of TB control measures, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), TB is on the rise in many developing and transitional economies.

WHO Facts on Tuberculosis

The Global Tuberculosis Epidemic, Facts & Figures, The Global Fund

WORLD STOP TB DAY Fact Sheet for the Media

Global TB Initiatives

WHO launches new Stop TB Strategy to fight the global tuberculosis epidemic DOTS strengthened by a six-point strategy to achieve the 2015 TB-related Millennium Development Goal

Global alliance for TB drug development Industry, NGO’s and foundations are working together with more than 30 partners around the world to accelerate the discovery and development of cost-effective new drugs. The TB Alliance draws on the best practices and resources of the public and private sectors. Its mission is to accelerate the discovery and development of cost-effective new anti-TB drugs, which achieve the following goals: to shorten or simplify treatment; to provide a more effective treatment of multidrug-resistant TB; and to improve the treatment of latent TB infection. Major TB Alliance partners include: Novartis India, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry and other pharmaceutical organizations, the Global Forum for Health Research and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Global Tuberculosis Research Initiative (GTRI) Increasing support for a prioritized global research agenda in TB. The Global TB Research Initiative was established by the World Health Organization in 1998 to provide a forum for:

• debating research priorities at the global level;
• identifying gaps in global TB research efforts;
• encouraging research funding agencies to address gaps in TB research.

The GTRI is comprised of individuals from industry, national TB control programmes, research institutions, ministries of health, research funding agencies, bilateral development agencies and multilateral organizations such as WHO.