Two of the world’s biggest health agencies teamed up yesterday to warn of the growing threat of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis.
The agencies want to increase by half spending on tackling the disease in more than 100 of the world’s least wealthy countries.
The sum, worth some 1.6 billion dollars, would help treat some 17 million TB patients and save six million lives in the next three years, according to the World Health Organisation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
The appeal for cash was launched ahead of World TB Day on Monday, when the 131st anniversary of the discovery of the organism that causes the disease will be celebrated.
The agencies say another 1.3 billion dollars is needed to step up research into the disease and finance clinical trials for drugs, diagnosis and vaccination.
WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said: “We are treading water at a time when we desperately need to scale up our response to multi-drug resistant TB.
“We have gained a lot of ground in TB control through international collaboration, but it can easily be lost if we do not act now.”
Global fund executive director Dr Mark Dybul said: "If we don’t act now, our costs could skyrocket. It is invest now or pay forever.”
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