At their 2006 annual meeting, held July 15-17 in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Group of 8 industrialized nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom; with the European Commission) reaffirmed their commitment to the Global Plan to Stop TB, and called for the wider use of innovative partnerships like the TB Alliance "that promote investment in the research, development and production of vaccines, microbicides and drugs for HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases."
Acknowledging that "a vigorous response to the threat of infectious diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide, is essential to global development and to the well-being of the world's population," the G8 released a communiqué, pledging a "fulfillment of prior G8 commitments on the major infectious diseases," including funding commitments.
The communiqué, "Fight Against Infectious Diseases," contains two clauses that reaffirm the G8’s 2001 pledge to halt the spread of tuberculosis, and call for increased coordination to stop TB/HIV coinfections:
21. One-third of the world's population is exposed to the risk of contracting TB, which claims about two million lives each year. In certain regions, it affects more people today than it did twenty years ago. We reaffirm the commitment we made at the Genoa Summit in 2001 to halt the spread of this disease. We will also support the Global Plan to Stop TB, 2006-2015, which aims to cut TB deaths in half by the year 2015 compared to 1990 levels, saving some 14 million lives over ten years, and call upon all donors and stakeholders to contribute to its effective implementation.
22. We note with concern the rate of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis co-infection and seek to promote unified coordination for activities in this regard.
The G8 document also emphasizes the need for innovative strategies that promote investment in new treatments for infectious diseases. Product development public-private partnerships, like the TB Alliance, are singled out as one such promising initiative:
34. We call for a wider use of strategies and tools that promote investment in the research, development and production of vaccines, microbicides and drugs for HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases, and that assist in scaling up access to these means of prevention and treatment through innovative clinical research programs, private-public partnerships and other innovative mechanisms. In this regard, we take note of the steps taken on voluntary innovating financing mechanisms and other funding initiatives, the details of which are set out in the annex.