Can a Pledge to End TB Stick This Time Around?

In India, a doctor checks a patient’s x-ray for lung damage, which may indicate tuberculosis. Credit: ILO/Vijay Kuty   On May 8, there will be an interactive multistakeholder hearing at the UN as part of the preparatory process toward High-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis. The event will be broadcast live on UN Web TV.   Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has unveiled plans to speed up the licensing and use of effective novel vaccines against tuberculosis (TB), the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 and the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. January 2023By Morounfolu OlugbosiPRETORIA, South Africa, May 8 2023 (IPS) This week, the United Nations will host two days (May 8-9) of preliminary talks to plan a larger conference on tuberculosis (TB) in September. These preliminary talks will be held in New York City, the epicenter of the last significant surge of TB cases in the United States (U.S.) thirty years ago. TB is a disease that strikes hardest in impoverished places, and the last U.S. outbreak was no different. Disadvantaged urban communities hit hard by the HIV/AIDS pandemic bore the brunt of the outbreak. Yet, at the outbreak’s peak in 1992, less than 27,000 people in the U.S. were infected with TB. Today, an estimated 304,000 people are infected with TB in South Africa every year, while just under 3,000,000 people are infected with TB in India. The scope of the disease...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news