The world is starting to win the war against tuberculosis, but drug-resistant forms pose a new threat.

“Our worst enemy is success. We don’t handle success well. We handle crisis well.”

While the immediate causes of tuberculosis drug shortages in United States differ from the causes of drug shortages in resource poor settings where disease burdens are higher, the origins and consequences end up being similar.

An international handbook for nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations

In the communiqué the health ministers place focus on tuberculosis, including multidrug-resistant TB and TB/HIV as major health threats in need of urgent attention.

We should not debate post-2015 targets without first shaping pre-2015 goals to better reflect today’s TB pandemic and the tools - new drugs, integrated HIV-TB services, and molecular diagnostics - that we now have to fight it.

“It’s vital that we understand that this drug is a life-saver for the many who have run out of options.”

On 29-30 January the World Health Organization (WHO) will convene an expert group meeting on the use of bedaquiline for treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

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Date: 18 January 2013
Time: 8h45 - 15h00
Location: 455 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20001, USA