Tuberculosis (TB) is curable but kills 5000 people every day, almost all in the developing world. Around 1.7 million people every year die from TB, and there were nearly 9 million new cases in 2004. TB is a disease of poverty. It affects the most vulnerable including the poorest and people who are malnourished.
TB is a leading killer of HIV-infected people with weakened immune systems, especially in Africa where there are 250 000 TB deaths a year associated with HIV. In 2005, African Health Ministers declared TB a regional emergency. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a form of TB that does not respond to the standard drug treatment. Nearly half a million new MDR-TB cases are estimated to occur every year. The highest rates of MDR-TB are in countries of the former Soviet Union. WHO's European Region also warned of a TB emergency in Europe.
Despite enormous challenges, TB control is succeeding with incidence rates falling or stabilising in most of the world. In the last ten years, more than 22 million TB patients have been treated under WHO-recommended DOTS TB programmes. At the 2005 Gleneagles Summit, G8 leaders committed to fighting TB. In their Africa communiqué they pledged to help meet the needs to strengthen TB control as identified by the Stop TB Partnership (whose Secretariat is housed in WHO).
The opportunities / the solutions
- The Global Plan to Stop TB 2006–2015: the Stop TB Partnership, which includes WHO, launched the new Global Plan to Stop TB in January 2006. The Global Plan outlines actions and resources required to reverse TB incidence, halve rates of TB deaths and prevalence, expand access to TB treatment and care and support research and development into new TB tools.
- The Stop TB Strategy was also launched this year, and follows a two-year consultation with technical TB partners. The new Stop TB Strategy builds on the achievements and strengths of DOTS. It is designed to address all new challenges to successful TB control.
- UN Special Envoy to Stop TB: to ensure that TB is given a higher political priority, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in May announced that a former President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, would become his first-ever TB Special Envoy. Mr Sampaio will encourage leaders to strengthen TB commitments and endorse the Global Plan.
Current progress rates are insufficient to reach future TB targets. The Stop TB Strategy responds to this challenge by:
- Pursuing high-quality DOTS expansion and enhancement
- Addressing TB/HIV and MDR-TB
- Contributing to strengthening health system
- Engaging all care providers
- Empowering people who have TB, and their communities
- Enabling and promoting research.
The Global Plan to Stop TB 2006–2015 will: treat 50 million people for TB; save 14 million lives; put 3 million HIV/TB coinfected people on antiretrovirals; treat 800 000 people for MDR-TB; produce the first new anti-TB drug in 40 years by 2010; develop a new vaccine by 2015; provide rapid and inexpensive diagnostic tests at the point of care.
The Global Plan will cost US$ 56 billion and represents a three-fold increase in investment. The estimated funding gap is US$ 31 billion over 10 years. The majority of this funding will come from endemic countries but donor governments will also need to at least double their support for TB control and the development of new resources.
The WHO Stop TB Department together with WHO regional and country officers: develops policies, strategies and standards to improve TB control; supports the efforts of WHO Member States; measures progress towards TB targets and assesses national programme performance, financing and impact; and facilitates partnerships, advocacy and communication.
For more information contact:
Mobile phone: +41 79 509 0677