Tuberculosis control efforts fall far short, WHO warns
Governments need to get their heads out of sand, realize TB is not a disease consigned to 1800s: MSF
In its annual report on tackling TB, a highly contagiouslung disease which kills more people each year than HIV andmalaria combined, the WHO said progress had been dismal andcalled for "bold political commitment and increased funding."
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"The dismal progress in the TB response is a tragedy for themillions of people suffering from this disease," the director ofthe WHO's TB programme, Mario Raviglione, said in a statement."To save more lives now, we must get newly recommended rapidtests, drugs and regimens to those who need them. Currentactions and investments fall far short of what is needed."
"Countries are failing to diagnose and treat millions ofpeople with TB," he said in a statement. "Governments need toget their heads out of the sand and realise that TB is not adisease consigned to the 1800s; we see and treat TB in ourclinics every day, and it's a deadly threat to all of us."
The report warned of a widening gap between the financesneeded for TB care and prevention in poor and middle-incomecountries, and actual funds available. A $2-billion US shortfallnow, from some $8.3 billion needed for 2016, will widen to $6billion by 2020 if funding is not increased.
Other less wealthy countries rely heavily on internationaldonor financing, with more than 75 percent coming from TheGlobal Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.