In a sign of increasing political will in the battle against the world’s top infectious killer, the heads of the World Health Organization and USAID voiced their support for the global fight against tuberculosis last week in a reception during the United Nations General Assembly.

WASHINGTON -- Less than two months after unveiling a plan to fight multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, President Barack Obama has proposed cutting the U.S. Agency for International Development's funding to combat the world's No. 1 infectious killer -- by 19 percent.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was there. Dr. Eric Goosby, the United Nations envoy for tuberculosis, was there. Dr. Ariel Pablo-Mendez, the U.S. Agency for International Development's assistant administrator for global health, was there.

The White House has a plan to combat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, but it may never get funded.