$1.6m boost for fight against drug-resistant TB

The fight against multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 10 countries has received a boost with news of $1.6 million (£770,000) injection of funding for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' project to combat the disease.

Between 2008 and 2011 the money, from pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company, will help support treatment programmes in countries including South Africa, Kenya and Kazakhstan.

The funding will build on the initial success of the federation's three existing anti-MDR- TB programmes in eastern Europe, which began in 2004.

In a statement, Marrku Niskala, secretary-general of the International Federation, said: "It is vital that tuberculosis patients complete their treatment, both to be cured, and to avoid a relapse into the more serious form of the disease, called multi-drug-resistant TB, which is much more expensive and difficult to treat."

"We have noticed an increase of MDR-TB in certain regions, and it is essential we expand our programmes to help curb this trend," he added.

According to the World Health Organization, 15 per cent of all TB cases in eastern Europe, the Baltic states and central Asia are multi-drug-resistant.

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