SILVER SPRING, Maryland — A federal advisory panel voted unanimously yesterday 18 to 0 for efficacy but split 11 to 7 on safety in support of accelerated approval of a novel drug to combat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

Strict quality assurance policies for medicines have improved supply and quality but patients in developing countries still lack access to affordable drugs, particularly generics, that meet international standards.

Writing in the Global Health Technologies Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog, Eleonora Jimenez-Levi, a senior researcher at the Treatment Action Group (TAG), examines the 2012 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends: 2005–2011,"the latest report on the state of funding for tuberculosis (TB) research and product development." Jimenez-Levi recaps the findings and recommendations of the report and concludes, "Promising new tools are on the horizon, but without political will and adequate funding to support the development of new vaccines, diagnostics, and drugs, the world will not be able to contain the growing problem that drug-resistant TB poses, much less eliminate TB as a public health threat by 2050" (11/27).

Paris, France / 29 November 2012 — The theme of World AIDS Day (1 December 2012) is "Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths". But, according to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), the goal of zero AIDS-related deaths will not be reached without improved TB-HIV collaborative services.

Thailand is one of the 22 TB high burden countries in the world. According to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2012, Thailand, with a population of 70 million, had about 86,000 TB incident cases and 110,000 TB prevalent cases in past year. Case detection rate for all forms of TB was 76% and treatment success rate was 85% (in 2010).

29 November 2012 – Washington DC – Today US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the PEPFAR Blueprint, which provides a roadmap for how the US Government will work to help achieve an AIDS-free generation.

This World AIDS Day there are hopeful signs to report. Last week the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) announced that there has been a 13% reduction in TB/HIV deaths in the last two years.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced new results on Thursday showing a substantial increase in the number of people being treated for HIV and in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

The Executive Director of the advocacy group Section27 has taken issue with the "rosy picture" the United Nations joint agency on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has painted of the world’s response to HIV, saying the end of the epidemic was nowhere nigh.

Tuberculosis transmission rates in South Africa and more specifically Cape Town have not changed at all over the past 100 years, even though people are living longer and being cured because of treatment. Many are cured, only to be infected again.