The World Health Organization(WHO) is one of a group of organisations, together with 13 countries, who have got together to launch a programme to find and treat an increase of 1.5 million missing cases of TB by the end of 2019.The Global Fund initiative spans from the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health which took place earlier this month in Guadalajara, Mexico.Spanning from the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health which took place in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Global Fund said that ‘the new initiative is critically important to stopping the spread of TB and to reaching the global goalof ending TB as an epidemic by2030.
’The new effort seeks to support a combination of innovative and targeted programmes, promote better use of data and evidence, and expand the most successful approaches to find more missing cases of TB. The Global Fund said that it is investing $190 millionin the initiative. The money, which comes from the Fund’scatalytic investments, had been announced previously. According to the Global Fund Observer (the newsletter of AIDSPAN the Global Fundwatchdog group) some of the areas where the investments will be used are as follows:• to implement systematic and routine screening among children, prisoners, migrants and people living in urban slums;• to promote better use of diagnostic tools such as X-raysand Gene Xpert technology;• to support a closer engagement between private and public-sector providers to accelerate case finding, treatment and prevention; and to support gender and legal assessments to help remove the main barriers to accessing TB services.
The initial announcement did not mention what the other partners and countries are investing.The Global Fund Secretariat told Aid span that the WHO and Stop TB will work with other partners to support countries through a joint plan.In a guidance document on its TB catalytic investments, the Global Fund said that the main objective of this fundingis to find missing cases of both drug susceptible TB and MDR-TB patients using new and innovative interventions, approaches and ideas ‘that do not continue the business asusual approaches.’In countries where innovative approaches exist, the Fundsaid, catalytic funding couldbe positioned to scale-up orexpand these interventions.The countries – Bangladesh,Congo DR, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan,Philippines, South Africa,Tanzania, Ukraine, Kenya,Mozambique and India –account for 55% of all missed cases of TB and multi drug resistant TB.
Dr Marijke Wijnroks, Interim Executive Director of the Global Fund, said: “Missing TBcases including drug-resistant TB are major challenges infighting the disease, and pose a serious threat to global health security.Only through partnership and smart investments will we achieve the global goal ofending TB as an epidemic.”Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, said the agreement will provide much-needed impetus to help countries begin closing gaps by finding cases of both drug-susceptible TB and drug resistant TB.“We have set an ambitious target of finding and treating an additional 1.5 million missing cases of TB by 2019,”Dr. Ditiu said.“This agreement allows us to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the Global Fund, implementers and health partners in ensuring we reach our objective,”
