With 9 million cases and 2 million deaths every year worldwide, tuberculosis ranks among the leading infectious diseases with an incidence rate of 1% each year.
The Global Plan sets out a 10-year agenda for reducing TB incidence in line with Millennium Development Goals and for halving, by 2015, TB prevalence and deaths compared with 1990 levels. Coordinated by the Stop TB partnership, the Plan represents a step towards the elimination of TB as a global public health problem by 2050.
The targets set out in the first Global Plan (published in 2001) have been largely met - better programmes are now in place for monitoring and treating multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and a number of new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines for TB are being developed after decades of stagnation in research and development.
The challenge ahead therefore lies in improving the quality of care and bringing treatment to millions of patients. The second Global Plan encourages more involvement of patients and communities in the fight against TB and seeks to ensure that new, affordable technologies for treating, diagnosing and preventing TB are available and accessible to patients.
The Plan identifies an estimated funding gap of US$31 billion - investment from national governments and donors is therefore crucial in ensuring the Plan’s success.
For more information:
EPHA member working on TB: Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
Commission adopts new Communication to confront HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis outside the EU
