Washington, D.C., 31 October 2012 (PAHO/WHO) – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has tripled its financial support for the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Regional Tuberculosis Program, which seeks to prevent 15,000 deaths from tuberculosis in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next five years and reduce the incidence of this disease.

In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its 2012 Global TB Report, which announced that the fight against tuberculosis is at a crossroads.

2012 International Union Against TB and Lung Disease World Conference
Date: 13 November 2012
Time: 18h30 - 21h30
Location: Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur, No. 4 Jalan Conlay, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2012 International Union Against TB and Lung Disease World Conference
Date: 16 November 2012
Time: 8h00 - 10h00
Location: Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, rooms 401+402

2012 International Union Against TB and Lung Disease World Conference
Date: 16 November 2012
Time: 8h00 - 10h00
Location: Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Conference Hall 2

WHO is in crisis. Unless member states can be persuaded to “untie” their donations and give the organisation leeway to control its budget and set priorities WHO will slide further into irrelevance with disastrous consequences for global health, warns David Legge.

In her home on the outskirts of Zimbabwe’s capital city, 48-year-old Mary Marizani says that, although she recently became the first Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) patient in the country to conquer multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), she now faces another challenge: “I have my appetite back and now I am eating everything in sight.”

Leading by example: Bold steps are needed to stop tuberculosis deaths among patients living with HIV

India leads the world in its burden of TB-related morbidity, mortality and drug resistance. India has over 2 million new TB cases every year and TB kills nearly 1000 people every day. The emergence of drug resistant TB has made things worse.

There is a danger of tuberculosis spreading like wildfire as the mine strikes worsen, warns Prof Umesh Lalloo of the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu Natal.