UN holds first high-level meeting to address global TB threat

The United Nations set forth a goal of eliminating a global tuberculosis epidemic by 2030, as well as to treat 40 million people infected by the disease by 2022 and push forward infection prevention measures in the same timeframe.

A meeting held by the body’s General Assembly this week marked the first high-level meeting on the matter, meant to represent a collective push against a disease that kills as many as 1.4 million people each year. From that meeting has come a declaration that promotes affordable medicines and reaffirms national initiatives on intellectual property rights that nevertheless defend public health and improve access to necessary medication.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is among the advocates for such efforts and has pressed for global efforts to set aside $13 billion a year by 2022 for universal access on quality prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care. They also seek a $2 billion per year investment for research and development — a nearly $1.3 billion investment beyond what is currently provided.