The international coalition the Stop TB Partnership has launched the 2011-15 Global Plan to Stop TB, calling it a blueprint to prevent millions of "completely unnecessary deaths."
About 9 million people contract TB each year, predominantly in developing countries. Asia and Africa alone account for 55 percent and 30 percent of all cases, respectively.
The partnership said the affected countries will not be able to fully fund the cost of the fight against TB, an estimated $47 billion during the next five years. It called on donors in high-income countries to make up the funding gap with $2.8 billion per year over the next five years.
"If we are able to carry out this plan, we will treat 32 million people and save five million lives," said Rifat Atun, chair of the partnership's coordinating board. Nearly 2 million people die from TB each year.
The Stop TB Partnership highlighted the link between TB and HIV infection at the launch. More than 1 million HIV-positive people develop TB each year, and the 500,000 HIV-positive people who die from TB annually represent one-quarter of all AIDS deaths, said Paul de Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS. "There is a terrible link between HIV and TB," he said.
Partnership officials also noted that 400,000 to 500,000 people each year develop multidrug-resistant TB, which is very difficult and expensive to treat.
The coalition called for $10 billion for research into a TB vaccine, new medications and faster and more effective testing. By 2015, the coalition's goal is to have three new drug regimens and four vaccines in Phase III clinical trials.
"Pharmaceutical companies don't invest enough in TB because it's not a profitable market. It's a poor people's disease, so TB medication will never be a blockbuster," said Christian Lienhardt, senior research advisor for the partnership.
10/14/10
GLOBAL: Experts Warn of 10 Million TB Deaths in Next Five Years
Source: Agence France Presse (10.13.10); Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention