Global Efforts
Global Efforts to Fight TB
Organizations of all types — public, private, academic, health care, governmental and charitable, as well as biotech and pharmaceutical companies — have become increasingly involved in the fight against TB. Controlling and eventually eliminating tuberculosis as a public health threat is a global effort that requires a global commitment. To achieve this goal, there must be both investment in and support for implementation of current TB control strategies, as well as research and development of new tools to combat the disease. These include vaccines, drugs and diagnostics.
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World Health Organization's Stop TB StrategyEfforts to eliminate TB generally fall within this strategy:
Stop TB Department, World Health Organization
The Stop TB Department at the World Health Organization (WHO) provides leadership in strategic and technical aspects of TB control worldwide, in order to reverse the epidemic and eventually eliminate TB.The WHO also compiles data on TB incidence, prevalence and trends, which it releases in an annual Global Tuberculosis Control Report. The Stop TB PartnershipThe Stop TB Partnership was established in 2000. Its goal is the elimination of tuberculosis as a public health problem and, eventually, its eradication. It is made up of a network of more then 600 international organizations, countries, donors from the public and private sectors, as well as nongovernmental and governmental organizations. All have expressed an interest in working together to achieve this goal.In 2006, the Stop TB Partnership launched the Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015. It outlines the actions and funding needed to reach the public health targets for achieving United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The MDG targets for TB for 2015 include halting its spread, beginning to reduce the incidence of the disease, and halving prevalence and death rates from the 1990 baseline. A longer-term goal is the elimination of TB as a public health threat (less than one case per million) by 2050. The twin strategies of the Stop TB Partnership for 2006-2015 are to accelerate the development and use of better tools, including vaccines, and to implement the WHO-recommended Stop TB Strategy. The total cost of the Global Plan is US$56.1 billion over 10 years. This includes US$9 billion for development of new tools and US$47 billion for implementation of current programs. Today, it appears only about 45 percent of the total cost (about US$25.3 billion) is likely to be available. The estimated funding gap is US$30.8 billion, including a $1.5 billion funding gap for the development of new TB vaccines. Product Development PartnershipsA Product Development Partnership (PDP) is a non-profit organization that builds partnerships between the public, private, academic and philanthropic sectors to drive the development of new products for under-served markets. Through their unique collaborative efforts, PDPs are able to access a diversity of funding sources and to apply a wide range of tools and knowledge to their programs.In the global health arena, PDPs have been established to accelerate the development of new technologies that fight TB, AIDS, malaria and a wide range of neglected diseases. PDPs are created for the public good, and their products are made affordable to all those who need them. In addition to product development, PDPs will help ensure that all people who need them will have ready access to simple, affordable and effective diagnostics, drugs and vaccines. There are three PDPs working specifically to develop new tools for tuberculosis:
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