Deadly drug-resistant TB a 'blinking red' global threat
Deadly, drug-resistant tuberculosis – as lethal as Ebola and tough to treat in even the best hospitals – is a "blinking red" worldwide threat, the head of a global health fund has warned.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is on a mission to eradicate the three epidemics and plans to spend around $12 billion on it over the next three years.
"We should all be more worried about multidrug-resistant TB than we are. It gets nothing like the level of attention it should do," said Peter Sands, Global Fund's head.
Tuberculosis has become resistant to antimicrobials in an estimated 600,000 cases worldwide.
“At the moment, about 25 per cent of those 600,000 cases are being diagnosed and treated", said Sands.
"If you look across the threats to global health security, this is one where the light should be blinking red."
2030 GOAL
The UN has set a goal of eradicating AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis epidemics by 2030.
"The blunt truth is that we are not on track for that ambition," Sands said.
He added that despite his grave assessment of the risks ahead, significant progress has been made in the battle against the three epidemics.
The number of deaths caused by AIDS and malaria has decreased by about half since the start of the century.
Tuberculosis – now the world's most deadly infectious disease, killing some 1.3 million people each year (not including HIV co-infections) – caused about 20 per cent fewer deaths in 2016 than in 2000.
However, "If you compare the trajectory in terms of new infections and deaths against what we need to do, we need to step up the fight."
As health authorities slacken the pace, new variations of drug-resistant diseases are turning up, threatening progress already made and triggering a resurgence.
Global Fund set up in 2002, aims to raise $14 billion from 2020-2022 – $1.8 billion more than the amount it brought in over the 2017-2019 period. Two-thirds of this money goes to African countries.
The Global Fund's next three-yearly conference will take place in Lyon, France in October.
