WHO kickstart campaign to stop drug-resistant TB

Hundreds of thousands of cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) can be prevented and as many as 134,000 lives saved through the implementation of a two-year response plan, published/launched today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Stop TB Partnership.

The Global MDR-TB and XDR-TB Response Plan 2007-2008 sets out measures needed to prevent, treat and control extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). The plan also sets in motion actions to reach a 2015 goal of providing access to drugs and diagnostic tests to all MDR-TB and XDR-TB patients, saving the lives of up to 1.2 million patients.

The plan emphasises the urgent need to boost basic TB control and target investment in key areas, including: strengthening programmes to treat drug- resistant TB; building capacity in diagnostic laboratories; expanding infection control and surveillance; and funding research into new and improved diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.

The world first became aware of XDR-TB in March 2006 after researchers reported on an emerging global threat of highly resistant TB strains. Concerns were heightened six months later by a cluster of 'virtually untreatable' XDR-TB cases in an area of South Africa with high prevalence of HIV.

'A highly important element of the plan is a steady supply of quality drugs to treat MDR-TB and XDR-TB in underserved countries,' said Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.

The Global MDR-TB and XDR-TB Response Plan 2007-2008 details activities to be carried out in all six WHO regions. The total budget for the two-year plan is US$2.15bn, of which 80% is for country-specific needs. $102m is for essential support functions to fight TB drug resistance by international partners, including WHO and the Stop TB Partnership, at global, regional and national levels.