World closing in on Millennium Development Goal 6, globally the AIDS epidemic has been halted and reversed—race is on to reach universal access to HIV treatment.

Having pulmonary tuberculosis raised the risk of all-cause mortality 37% in Ugandan adults starting ART in a prospectively studied cohort of 22,477 people.

In many high-income countries, isoniazid preventive therapy has formed the cornerstone of tuberculosis prevention for nearly 50 years. Isoniazid is also effective in low-income and middle-income countries with a high tuberculosis burden, although widespread implementation has been slow. In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Betina Durovni and colleagues (1) present a large pragmatic before-and-after assessment of a policy to increase tuberculosis screening and the use of isoniazid preventive therapy to reduce the incidence of HIV-associated tuberculosis (HIV/TB) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ambitious stepwise intervention was multipronged and delivered across the city's health service. Primary analyses did not show an overall reduction in tuberculosis incidence, although there was a small reduction in the combined outcome of tuberculosis and all-cause mortality. Adjusted for clinical characteristics, the intervention had a modest effect on outcomes. Effect sizes varied by adherence to clinical follow-up, and were greatest in the group of patients who remained in care.

New Delhi/ New York, 25 September 2013 - On the eve of a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that India is facing an onslaught of political pressure from the U.S. government and pharmaceutical industry in retaliation for the country’s entirely legal actions to limit abusive patenting practices and increase access to affordable generic medicines. This pressure is likely to increase through negotiations of a potential bilateral investment treaty between the US and India, which is on the agenda for the meeting.

Health experts across Europe applaud the UK’s pledge to commit up to £1bn to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The UK’s announcement, together with France and the Nordic countries’ recent pledges, represents significant leadership in the battle to defeat some of the world’s top infectious disease killers. Health organisations are calling on the European Commission and European Union member states to join these efforts.

23 September 2013 - New York - UK Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced a UK contribution of US $1.6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the next three years. This amount makes the UK the second largest donor to the Fund, after the United States, and provides a leap forward towards the Fund's target of securing US $15 billion.

New opportunities for funding and engagement – Your role in the future of the Stop TB Partnership

Thursday 31st October, 11am – 5pm (10.30am coffee and registration)
Hotel Le Meridien Etoile, Paris (opposite the conference center)
Conference registration is not required to attend

Join Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and New York Times science writer Denise Grady for an online panel discussion on the global crisis of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). The panel, comprised of health care workers and patient advocates working to improve treatment for people living with DR-TB, featuring Dr. Grania Brigden, TB advisor MSF Access Campaign, Cathy Hewison, TB Medical Advisor at MSF, Mark Harrington, executive director of the Treatment Action Group, and Evaline Kibuchi, Senior TB advocacy Manager, at the Kenya AIDS NGO Consortium (KANCO).

South Africa has a generalised HIV and AIDS epidemic, with a 17% prevalence rate among 15 to 49 year-olds and the highest number of persons living with HIV in the world (estimated at 6.4 million). The epidemic is compounded by the high rate of TB/HIV co-infection: About 60% of TB patients are infected with HIV (one of the highest rates in the world).

Abstract