Global Cause
Ending TB
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Finding the missing millions: how next-gen diagnostics can transform TB response
Each year, nearly 3 million people with tuberculosis (TB) are ‘missed’ by health systems – undiagnosed or unreported – allowing the world’s deadliest infectious disease to persist.1 Today’s diagnostics are accurate but too scarce, costly or unsuitable for those at most risk. Some go untreated; others receive the wrong treatment; and drug-resistant strains spread –...
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Break the chain of transmission to end tuberculosis
Ending tuberculosis in high-burden settings requires us to adopt evidence-based interventions. No one should be at risk of this deadly, but curable, disease. It is a profound injustice that millions worldwide remain at risk of tuberculosis (TB) – a disease that is both preventable and treatable. Despite decades of knowledge and effective tools, such as...
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New guidance in response to COVID-19 from the Global Fund in fighting TB, HIV and malaria
COVID-19 could derail progress on HIV, TB and malaria, through disruption to treatment or other interventions of supply chains of critical medicines and medical supplies. Working within its mandate to fight HIV, TB and malaria, and to strengthen systems for health, the Global Fund is encouraging countries to reprogram savings from existing grants and to...
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To beat TB, we need quality TB care for all people, by all providers
As countries move towards achieving UHC as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, efforts to engage all health providers to close gaps in care have gained more significance. Ensuring universal access to quality TB services is a significant challenge since over a third of the 10 million people estimated to have developed TB in 2018...
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How to stop multi-drug resistant TB
Multi-drug resistant TB is a global health threat, a global economic threat and, for many, a death threat. TB is the number-one infectious killer in the world. It is a contagious, airborne bacterial disease, which takes more than 4,000 lives a day. Moreover, when it comes to multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), only one in five...
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TB Courage: Jerick’s story of fighting drug-resistant TB
I actually had a fever for more than two weeks when I was diagnosed with TB. I suddenly felt heaviness in my breathing, and whenever I climbed up stairs I would easily get tired. I was rushed to the emergency room by my mom, and that’s when I was diagnosed of having water in my...
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MPs discuss the political will to end TB
The Global TB Caucus is an international network of parliamentarians united by their shared commitment to end the TB epidemic. With over 2,500 members in 150 countries, the Caucus aims to transform the response to TB through targeted interventions at national, regional and global levels. “Multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB and HIV/TB co-infections are new, grave threats...
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Success means finding all people with TB
In the last two years, a coalition of global health partners has invested vigorously in the goal to find more missing people with TB. These efforts are bearing fruit. In today’s interconnected world, nobody is safe from tuberculosis (TB). Like other diseases that spread from person to person through coughing and sneezing, TB represents a...
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Latent tuberculosis is “the seedbed for active TB”
Latent TB must be tackled with targeted testing and treatment of at-risk populations, rather than giving people blanket treatment. It’s more cost-effective — and more ethical. People with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) can feel well and not display any outward signs of TB, but still go on to develop active TB in the future. Worryingly,...
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Testing and treating TB – the challenges
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared tuberculosis (TB) a global emergency 25 years ago, yet TB remains among the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading infectious disease killer. TB is preventable and curable, yet millions of people with TB do not have access to affordable diagnostic tests and treatment – especially in...