Tuberculosis

Many people think of tuberculosis (TB) as a disease of the past, but in reality, over 2 billion people are currently infected with the TB bacterium, roughly one-third of the world’s population. In 2008 alone, TB killed 1.7 million people. That’s 4,660 deaths a day or one death from TB every 20 seconds. But the drugs to treat a standard TB case cost only $20 per patient in the developing world.

As a result of inadequate treatment, drug-resistant strains of TB are emerging that are much more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to cure. Cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) have been found in almost every country of the world. It is not clearly known just how far these strains have spread.

Standard and drug-resistant TB are undermining years of progress against HIV/AIDS. TB is the leading killer of people with HIV: individuals are able to live with HIV, but are dying from TB. Without proper treatment, 90 percent of those living with HIV die within months of contracting TB.

RESULTS and TB Advocacy

When RESULTS and REF began advocating for tuberculosis (TB) funding in 1997 as a key poverty and health issue, the U.S. was providing less than $1 million in global TB funding. Since then, we’ve helped members of Congress realize that not only is TB a global epidemic, but the fight against HIV/AIDS will not succeed without an equally aggressive effort against TB. In 2008, the historic Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 was signed into law, authorizing $48 billion over five years for life-saving programs, including $4 billion for TB and a goal of treating 4.5 million people.

To reach this authorized level, Congress must begin to scale up TB funding as envisioned in this historic legislation. RESULTS continues to lead advocacy efforts to urge Congress to increase funding for the Global Fund in our annual appropriations (foreign aid spending) bill.