New initiative launched in fight against TB

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced details of a new initiative to help fight the spread of TB in 19 countries.

The project will see over three-quarters of a million people receive anti-TB drugs over the next year and a half, with $27 million (£13.5 million) of support for the initiative coming from the international funding agency UNITAID.

It is hoped the new measures will address the imminent shortfall in anti-TB drugs being experienced by the 19 countries to benefit from the scheme, as they await fresh international funds for drug purchases promised at the end of 2008.

Welcoming the project Dr Marcos Espinal, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, said: "This collaboration will deliver drugs to more than three-quarters of a million people who otherwise might not get treatment or could have their treatment interrupted because no drugs were available."

Fourteen of the countries set to benefit from the scheme are in Africa, where experts have closely linked the TB epidemic with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Recent figures from the WHO state there are currently 8.8 million new cases of TB every year, resulting in 1.6 million deaths annually.

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