Marking the 26th Anniversary of World TB Day, Families USA Calls for the U.S. to Do More to Confront This Major Threat

Statement by Ron Pollack, Executive Director, Families USA

As the world confronts a growing epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), one wonders in dismay if the Bush administration has misunderstood the message of World TB Day for 2008. In response to the positive worldwide theme, “I am Stopping TB,” the administration has answered with a budget that says, “I am Stopping New Funding for New Medical Research.”

A February 2008 report by the World Health Organization released findings from the largest survey to date on the scale of the current epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis. The report finds that extensively drug-resistant TB is now present in at least 45 countries, including the United States. However, some countries still lack the equipment needed to diagnose drug-resistant TB, so the scale of the epidemic may be larger than we know.

Surveillance of TB cases in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that 20 states in the U.S. have witnessed increasing numbers of TB cases since 2005. 

There are half a million new cases of multidrug-resistant TB every year. Meanwhile, our nation’s commitment to finding an effective TB vaccine, as well as better drugs to fight drug-resistant TB, is not what it should be. Extensively drug resistant TB is virtually untreatable with the drugs we have today, yet the President’s proposed budget for NIH and the CDC is simply falling short of what is needed.

In his latest budget proposal for the 2009 fiscal year, the President requests flat-line funding for these agencies, which effectively cuts their budgets as inflation erodes their ability to pay for lifesaving medical research. Our scientists at institutions such as NIH and the CDC could be on the cusp of several medical breakthroughs in this area, but without continued support, potential vaccines and drugs to combat infectious diseases remain stuck in the pipeline.

TB is fast becoming one of the greatest infectious disease threats because of emerging drug resistance. Contrary to popular belief, TB is not a disease of the past, neither are rates declining worldwide. In fact, TB is not standing still, yet we are.

Families USA joins health leaders from around the world today in calling for increased spending to combat tuberculosis, one of the world’s leading infectious killers.

Families USA's Global Health Initiative invites you to try our new interactive game, Whack TB. Learn more about the battle against TB as you try to smash each new outbreak somewhere in the world.

 

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