Global Tuberculosis

Description

Global Tuberculosis funding, in partnership with private and public donors, supports interventions that prevent, detect, and cure tuberculosis (TB). The U.S. works in 23 countries to provide high-quality screening, diagnosis, and treatment services for millions of people affected by TB and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

What Does This Buy?

Funds support efforts to prevent and treat TB and MDR-TB, including screening, diagnosis, infection control, and healthcare worker training. Funds also support the effectiveness of Global Fund investments in TB.

Justification for the Request

• U.S.-developed innovations in TB diagnosis and treatment can now dramatically speed up diagnosis, shorten treatment, and save lives, provided they reach patients in time.
• Between 2000-2016 U.S. funded investments contributed to an estimated 53 million lives saved from TB, including those coinfected with HIV/AIDS.
• TB is curable yet it is frequently economically devastating for individual families because of the long course of treatment.
• In USAID-supported countries, the rate of new cases of TB has decreased 25% since 2000.
• Since 2012, U.S. efforts have reduced the cost of treatment for MDR-TB by 50%.
• Worldwide, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause from a single infectious agent, above HIV/AIDS.4 TB kills three people every minute.
• In 2017, 10 million developed TB; almost 500,000 were multidrug resistant; and 1.6 million people died.4

U.S. Interest

• Roughly 36% of people with active TB go untreated each year, and one person with active, untreated TB can spread the disease to as many as 15 other people in a year. As an airborne disease, TB presents a unique threat that knows no borders; multidrug-resistant tuberculosis poses a special national security threat, and by acting in a concerted manner now, we can reduce the potential of drug-resistant TB in the future.
• Tuberculosis funding supports U.S. national security by reducing the number of cases and by developing the capacity around the world to prevent, detect, and respond to dangerous outbreaks that have the potential to pose an immediate and significant threat to the health and safety of Americans.

Bold Vision

• Additional investment could decrease the number of new cases of TB. Between 2016 and 2017, the rate of new cases of TB in USAID-supported countries fell six times more than in those not receiving U.S. bilateral assistance.
• Additional investment could help identify and treat the people with TB (up to 40%) who are “missing,” meaning they are not registered or treated by national health programs. With growing support for ending TB at the highest political level in key countries, USAID can do much more to strengthen capacity and support self reliance.

Impact of Cuts

While in 23 USAID focus countries new cases have fallen by 25% since 2000, further expansion of drug resistant types of TB could erase decades of progress in global control if left unchecked. Funding cuts would result in as many as 31,000 new TB cases, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation estimate.6