The TB Europe Coalition is accepting applications for a pilot mentoring project starting in September aiming to develop TB advocacy-related skills. For further details, click here.

The fight against tuberculosis (TB) could soon get sharper. Researchers at the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) have got new insight into the molecular mechanism of the TB bacterium that helps it evade the human immune system.

A new method that analyzes how individual immune cells react to the bacteria that cause tuberculosis could pave the way for new vaccine strategies against this deadly disease, and provide insights into fighting other infectious diseases around the world.

The Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH announced approval of 11 new Wave 9 projects selected for funding to address inequities in drug-resistant TB in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Accelerator to End TB for a total of US$6.14 million.

Abuja, 21 July, 2021 - Response to the coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, data indicate that there has been an increase in annual tuberculosis (TB) case notification due to strategic intervention by  the  National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP), in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders working on TB control and elimination in Nigeria.

TB is one of the oldest infectious diseases in recorded history. Most of the people who are ill with TB live in low- and middle-income countries where this disease is one of the leading causes of death. This is particularly distressing given the fact that TB is preventable, treatable and curable. But there’s currently only one vaccine approved against TB. And it is 100 years old. The first dose of the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was administered on July 18 1921. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana poses key questions to Bavesh Kana, one of South Africa’s leading TB researchers.

Médecins Sans Frontières released a new issue brief, Local diagnostics to meet local health needs, with recommendations how to improve local production of diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is publishing a position statement on Innovative Clinical Trial Designs for Development of New TB Treatments. This document aims to support TB regimen development by highlighting key clinical trial characteristics to help advance novel therapies. It summarises key innovations in TB clinical trial designs, ranging from pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) modelling and new advances in biomarker development to the value of novel clinical trial design methodologies and post-licensure observational studies.

The Union health ministry on Saturday said that coronavirus infection could make a person more susceptible to developing tuberculosis, as it was an “opportunistic infection like black fungus”, but added that there was not enough scientific evidence to link the two.

Progress in COVID-19 vaccine development shows the value of investing in vaccines, yet TB vaccine research received only 20% of needed funding in 2019.