Tuberculosis: A Disease of the Poor Begs For Rich Funding

A public awareness banner about tuberculosis on a fence in the Hope Fountain area, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPSBy Busani BafanaBULAWAYO, Jul 3 2023 (IPS) The United Nations General Assembly is convening a high-level meeting on Tuberculosis (TB) to get a political commitment for increased funding for programmes and research to end an old disease that today kills more people than AIDS and COVID. TB, an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, kills 1.5 million people annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite being curable at a relatively low cost, TB has remained a health burden, especially in developing countries, because of a combination of poor diagnosis and treatment and inadequate funding for research in developing new vaccines. A coalition of TB organizations is calling on political leaders to raise their commitments to funding and ending TB. They call for a TB research and development funding boost to USD5 billion annually and ensure all national TB responses are equitable, inclusive, gender-sensitive, rights-based and people-centred. In 2018, at the UN high-level meeting on TB, nations pledged to invest USD2 billion for TB research and USD13 billion annually for TB diagnostics, treatment and care by 2022. However, these commitments have not been met five years on. Stronger political commitment to end TB is key, says Mel Spigelman, CEO of the TB Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding faster-actin...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Global Health Humanitarian Emergencies Inequality Innovation Sustainable Development Goals TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report World Health Organisation (W Source Type: news