The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease fully supports the UN’s resolution to convene a High-Level Meeting on Global Tuberculosis, to be held during the UN General Assembly in 2018.
The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease fully supports the UN’s resolution to convene a High-Level Meeting on Global Tuberculosis, to be held during the UN General Assembly in 2018. Tuberculosis is the world’s leading cause of death from an infectious disease. The medicines and diagnostic tools available to find and treat TB are grossly inadequate. No effective vaccine exists. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a crisis. And research and development of new tools is vastly underfunded. Intense stigma attached to TB keeps people living with TB from being able to access care in their own communities.
We cannot continue on this path. Clinical and technological solutions are essential but not sufficient to ending TB. An airborne disease, TB knows no borders—and its effects cause immense suffering to individuals and families at the household level, while disrupting productivity and economic development at the societal level. For these reasons, we need stronger political will from national governments around the world. We need leaders in government to take a stand against TB.
The Union looks forward to working with our colleagues at the UN, WHO, and in national governments, as well as members of affected communities and civil society to support the meeting and to ensure that it serves as a catalyst for concrete international action. Together, we can end TB.