London: The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a new strategy to fight the global tuberculosis(TB) epidemic today. WHO also urged governments to donate more money for the cause.
WHO meet its goal of reducing TB's prevalence and its daily death toll of 5,000. TB is the world's deadliest infectious disease. However, it is curable.
Each year, 8.9 million new TB cases are reported. 1.7 million people die of the ailment, 90 per cent of them in developing countries.
China and India alone account for 35 per cent of all estimated new TB cases each year. WHO said it’s greatest challenges remain the spread of TB among HIV-infected people in Africa.
A multidrug-resistant form of TB, especially in former Soviet provinces in Eastern Europe is another.
The new Stop TB Strategy, published in today's issue of the 'Lancet' medical journal, was developed during meetings with international health professions over a two-year period.
It refines an earlier 1995 WHO tuberculosis strategy and is part of an ambitious action plan that the UN organisation announced last month,
WHO had aimed at treating 50 million people for the contagious lung infection, halving TB prevalence and death rates, and saving 14 million lives between now and the year 2015.
The ambitious plan hopes to raise USD 56 billion. The strategy's goals include providing high-quality medical services to the world's poorest areas and promoting research for new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines aimed at fighting TB.
"The Stop TB Strategy aims to ensure access to care for all TB patients, to reach our goals for 2015 and to reduce the burden of TB worldwide," director of WHO's Stop TB Department, Mario Reviglione said at a press conference.
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