A new study shows that TB and TB deaths are declining for the first time ever. But can this progress be sustained amid foreign aid cuts by donor governments?
Development professionals are taught to look for the deeper logic. Situations that make no sense on the surface often have clear motivations once you look deeper. I recently ran into one of those while assisting on a tuberculosis assessment here in Tajikistan.
Everyday, millions of people who live in tightly cramped quarters pack into overloaded buses to work in a garment factories. This makes for a perfect breeding ground for TB.
U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby said today, "There is no stronger supporter of the Global Fund than the United States." He is right. But it would appear that the global financial crisis is taking a big hit on the Global Fund's ability to raise money.
How much will the global financial crisis impact funding for the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria? By the end of next week, we may have a fairly precise answer to that question when donors meet for a replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
If there is one infection that terrifies me, it’s tuberculosis. Not AIDS, not influenza. TB; it keeps me up at night. It has the capacity to devastate our planet in ways we can’t even imagine yet. Tuberculosis is the single worst pandemic our planet has every faced. It has every characteristic of a superbug. Tuberculosis spreads through the air, and it mutates quickly into drug-resistant forms. It’s not bound by any animal or insect vector and it's not bound by climate conditions.