Challenges Remain In Fight Against TB, U.N. Secretary-General Says

On World Tuberculosis Day, recognized on March 24, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “said that while there has been much progress since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a global health emergency two decades ago, there are still challenges to be met, mainly stopping the spread of multidrug-resistant TB, also known as MDR-TB, which threatens to reverse the gains achieved in past years,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “New diagnostics, new drugs and the promise of new vaccines have the potential to further accelerate progress against TB, which still kills 1.4 million people a year — more than any infectious disease other than AIDS. But two obstacles stand in the way,” he said, noting drug-resistant TB and a need for additional funding. “WHO Director-General Margaret Chan stressed that while curing MDR-TB is feasible, it takes 20 to 24 months of treatment with expensive and toxic drugs, some of which need to be administered by injection and some of which are in short supply,” the news service adds, noting she “warned that nearly four percent of people newly ill with TB are resistant to multiple drugs right from the start” (3/24).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.