Tuberculosis is a devastating disease that we can end in our
lifetime, Development Minister said ahead of World TB Day
this Sunday.
The disease, which is fully preventable and treatable, kills on
average at least 1.3 million people every year, more than any
other infectious disease, and ending it by 2030 is one of the UN
Sustainable Development Goal targets.
A £4 million funding boost from the UK for the TB REACH programme
will help test new approaches to increase the number of people
diagnosed and treated for the disease in low- and middle-income
countries. This support will:
- Provide health services to 500,000 people
- Detect cases of TB in 37,000 people
- Save more than 15,000 lives
Minister for Development and Africa, said:
TB is a devastating yet eminently preventable disease. The UK has
been at the forefront of work to rid the world of it, alongside
our partners, and TB REACH will help discover even better ways of
detecting and treating the disease, so that people no longer
suffer needlessly.
It is possible to end TB in our lifetime - we must make every
effort to do so.
With this funding, TB REACH, part of the UK’s Global Fund
Accelerator Programme, will be able to finance more organisations
to test out innovative approaches that will also strengthen
health systems and combat antimicrobial resistance.
Some of the projects the UK is currently supporting
through TB REACH include:
- Scaling up preventative treatment for TB in Brazil, Uganda,
Vietnam, Zambia and Pakistan
- Integrating TB screening and services into maternal health
services in Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan to tackle rising
numbers of pregnant and post-partum women with the disease
- Using portable x-ray machines and AI to diagnose TB in
prisons in Mozambique
The UK has long been at the forefront of the battle against TB
and the £1 billion
commitment to the Global Fund made in 2022 is making an
important contribution to fighting the disease, including by
providing treatment and care for 1.1 million people,
screening 20 million people and providing 41,800 people with
treatment for multidrug-resistant TB.
In addition, the UK is a leading funder of investments to bring
down the prices of new products and tackle barriers to widespread
access through funding to UNITAID, the Clinton Health Access
Initiative and to MedAccess.
Research into TB is vital and lifesaving. The UK has provided
critical support to the development of new drug treatments
through our support to the TB Alliance and new diagnostics
through our support to FIND, the Global Alliance for
Diagnostics.
Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership, said:
TB REACH is the only global mechanism in the TB community that
provides fast-track funding directly to implementing partners in
country to test innovations.
We have supported everything from donkeys to drones, artificial
intelligence, portable X-ray and artificial intelligence, new
molecular diagnostics, to the vital touch of human TB champions
and we look forward to all the new ideas that will be made
possible from FCDO’s generous Wave 11 contributions.
Notes to editors:
- This funding for TB REACH is an allocation from the UK’s
Global Fund Accelerator Programme which is 5% of our overall
funding to the Global Fund.
- TB REACH provides rapid funding to local innovators to test
new approaches for case detection, prevention and treatment.
- TB is one of the oldest infectious diseases and has affected
humans for thousands of years. The disease is spread when people
who are infected with TB expel bacteria into the air, for example
through coughing. It typically affects the lungs (pulmonary TB)
but can also affect other sites (extrapulmonary TB).
