LUCKNOW: Shortage of essential tuberculosis medicines in government-run centres in state has made it extremely difficult for patients. Sources in health department said there was absolutely no stock of medicines for first line treatment of TB and that less than 1% of medicines needed for treating multi-drug resistant TB (MDRTB) are available. In fact, the 1,000 patients of MDRTB cannot be provided with all the seven medicines they need. One drug or the other would be missing in their kit. Incidentally, patients suffering from extremely drug resistant TB (XDR) are left to fend for themselves as the Health department has not initiated the process to procure medicines they need. One week's medicine bought from the market costs around Rs 2,000, a price the poor can ill afford.

ROCKVILLE, Md. (August 19, 2013)— The government of Australia has expanded its role in the global battle against tuberculosis, providing a grant of AUS$2.5 million to fund the quest for an effective vaccine against a silent killer that infects one out of three people worldwide.

August 22, 2013, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam  - The far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) should be a force for improving health outcomes for the more than half a billion people in twelve countries affected by the pact, but instead negotiators are moving towards finalizing a deal that in fact would restrict access to affordable medicines and constrain governments’ ability to protect the health of their citizens, warned Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

By any measure, tuberculosis (TB) is a wildly successful pathogen. It infects as many as two billion people in every corner of the world, with a new infection of a human host estimated to occur every second.

21 August 2013 – Ahead of an upcoming special General Assembly event next month on efforts by United Nations Member States to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to define a new universal development agenda, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has released a report, A Life of Dignity for All, containing his updates on the Goals and vision for the road ahead.

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