RSS Feeds and Podcasts
25 March 2008
TBD
UN Envoy to Stop TB Says HIV and TB Must Be Tackled Together
25/03/2008
The UN's special envoy to stop tuberculosis, Jorge Sampaio, says TB continues to be a global pandemic, with more than 9 million new cases in 2006. 400,000 of those cases were of a strain that is resistant to several first-line drugs, known as multi-drug resistant TB.
Mr. Sampaio, quoting from a World Health Organization report, said one and a half million people died of tuberculosis in 2006 and 200,000 died of a combination of TB and AIDS. He says this lethal combination is fuelling the TB epidemic in many parts of the world, especially in Africa and TB is now the leading cause of death in people with HIV.
"The HIV pandemic presents a massive challenge to the global control of TB at all levels, particularly in view of this recent development of the emergence of drug-resistant TB. So the only way to respond to the interlinked epidemics of HIV and TB, is in fact, to push for a more coordinated approach."
Jorge Sampaio said a conference scheduled for June in New York will look at the scientific knowledge and experience on the ground to develop strategies to deal with TB and AIDS together.
Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.
Mr. Sampaio, quoting from a World Health Organization report, said one and a half million people died of tuberculosis in 2006 and 200,000 died of a combination of TB and AIDS. He says this lethal combination is fuelling the TB epidemic in many parts of the world, especially in Africa and TB is now the leading cause of death in people with HIV.
"The HIV pandemic presents a massive challenge to the global control of TB at all levels, particularly in view of this recent development of the emergence of drug-resistant TB. So the only way to respond to the interlinked epidemics of HIV and TB, is in fact, to push for a more coordinated approach."
Jorge Sampaio said a conference scheduled for June in New York will look at the scientific knowledge and experience on the ground to develop strategies to deal with TB and AIDS together.
Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.
Other News
25/03/2008