On World TB Day, let’s celebrate a partnership, which in just a few years is helping to transform the AIDS epidemic.

Much more needs to be done to prevent tuberculosis (TB) which affects at least half a million of the world’s children every year, with as many as 70 000 losing their lives. According to WHO and the Stop TB Partnership, most children can be saved from this curable illness with better diagnosis of the condition, greater access to health services and improved coordination of healthcare programmes.

U.S. cases of tuberculosis fell 6.4 percent in 2011 to an all-time low, but missed a national target of eliminating the disease as cases among foreign-born individuals persisted, health officials said on Thursday.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical is the top private funder of tuberculosis (TB) research and drug development in the world. Last year, Otsuka established a Geneva-based subsidiary – Otsuka SA – to serve as “the company’s central operations for developing and implementing public health policies and corporate social responsibility programs in connection with its global TB program,” according to the company’s website.

22 March 2012 - New York, NY - The Sentinel Project on Pediatric Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis today launched Being Brave: Stories of Children with Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis today. This collection documents the devastating impact of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) on children.

The following is a guest blog post by Dr. Lucica Ditiu, executive secretary of the Stop TB Partnership, commenting on the newly released document Tuberculosis Vaccines: A Strategic Blueprint for the Next Decade, reflecting the consensus of members of the TB vaccine research and development community to develop new vaccines that could help stop TB in our children’s lifetimes.

Childhood TB is a hidden epidemic

The Commonwealth Secretariat's Health Section is exploring ways to partner with international organisations to contribute to the eradication of tuberculosis (TB), which currently affects 8.8 million people worldwide.

Christine F. Sizemore, Ph.D., Richard E. Hafner, M.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Below is a joint press release issued by Patients in Control Movement and Svecha Charitable Fund, and an article by a famous Russian journalist Anastasia Kuzina translated into English.