TB Alliance applauds the Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH program for investing in efforts to combat tuberculosis (TB). The $15.4 million awarded by Wave 7 of TB REACH will support 37 projects focused on innovative solutions for TB case finding, diagnostics and care efforts.
According to the Stop TB Partnership, four of these projects will focus on studying the use of a six-month, three-drug, all-oral treatment in countries that are confronting extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and failed or treatment-intolerant multidrug-resistant TB: Belarus, South Africa, Tajikistan and Ukraine. The TB REACH investment follows the August 14th U.S. regulatory approval of the treatment, which was developed by TB Alliance, and is providing rapid funding for programmatic implementation of the therapy.
“These countries now have an opportunity to lead the way toward implementing new ways of treating highly drug-resistant forms of TB,” said Mel Spigelman, president and CEO of TB Alliance. “We are greatly encouraged by this news and the hope it provides for patients in need.”
TB is the deadliest infectious disease, killing about 1.6 million people in 2017 alone. More than half a million cases of drug-resistant TB develop each year. Extensively drug-resistant TB, which is especially difficult to treat, has been found in more than 127 countries.
Photo credit: Michele Spatari / AFP