*EPF120 03/24/2003
Text: Global Disease Fund Focuses on Tuberculosis
(Message comes on World TB Day) (670)

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria will commit 15 percent of its resources to combating TB, according to a statement issued March 24 by U.S. Secretary of Health Tommy G. Thompson, the fund's board chairman.

Thompson said the fund will provide grants to TB programs in 16 of the countries with the highest level of disease. Fund managers will also strive to insure that the programs receiving this support are using the most effective methods for detecting and treating the disease.

The fund endorses the treatment method advocated by most international health experts -- directly observed therapy short-course, or DOTS. The TB treatment must be continued over a period of several months, but patients frequently quit the treatment when they feel better, and don't complete the full round of therapy. When that happens, their illness can recur and the disease-causing bacteria itself can become resistant to existing treatments. Those are both developments that have helped cause a resurgence of TB after it was thought cured decades ago.

Further details about the international partnership to combat TB are available at http://www.stoptb.org/world.tb.day/default.asp

Following is the text of Thompson's statement:

(begin text)

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria
World TB Day
March 24, 2002

By Tommy G. Thompson,
Chairman of the Board of the Global Fund

One third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis (TB).

Fifty years ago, medical science found a cure for this disease, and it seemed as if it would join polio and smallpox as a receding threat to the health and welfare of humanity. But half a century later, it is clear that the biggest challenges in beating TB lie ahead.

The illness is resurgent, abetted by new, drug-resistant strains and increasing urbanization. This year, nine million people will become sick with TB. The good news is that in most cases, TB can be cured and further spread prevented.

HIV/AIDS and TB are a lethal combination, each speeding the other's progress. TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV/AIDS, and people infected with both are more likely to develop active TB disease. Unlike HIV, however, TB can be cured, and, through treatment, we can prevent its further spread.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis is at the forefront of the battle against TB.

In the next two years, the Fund will provide resources to TB programs in 16 of the 22 high-burden countries that together account for 80 percent of all cases. Over 15 percent of the resources devoted to the Fund's first two rounds of grants will go toward fighting TB.

The Fund is committed to ensuring that programs receiving assistance use the most effective methods for detecting and treating tuberculosis.

The treatment methodology known as directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS) is the most effective means of administering treatment, curing patients, reducing transmission, and preventing the development of drug resistance.

Every TB project approved by the Global Fund in its second round of grants will incorporate DOTS, and 35 percent of them will include DOTS against multi-drug resistant strains of the disease. Over half of the Fund's second-round TB programs include screening for HIV, and 42 percent will provide integrated treatment with HIV.

I want to dramatically increase the percentage of integrated HIV/TB projects among the total projects approved in the future. As Chair of the Board, I would like to help realize this goal by working with Board members to ensure that we are all providing the necessary technical assistance to develop more high-quality integrated proposals.

The Global Fund can and will make a profound difference in the worldwide battle against tuberculosis. The next stages of the fight will be the most challenging. It is a challenge we must meet. With the compassion of the Fund's donors, and the passion of the Fund's partners, we will.

Tommy G. Thompson
Chairman of the Board

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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