Special post from WHO discussing new report on drug-resistant TB
Continuing our World TB Day series, the following is a guest blog post by Ernesto Jaramillo, Paul Nunn and Mario Raviglione of the Stop TB Department at the World Health Organization (WHO) discussing WHO’s new report issued today: Towards universal access to diagnosis and treatment of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis by 2015 – WHO progress report 2011.
“Major progress has been made in TB control over the past 15 years, with 41 million people cured and up to 6 million deaths averted thanks to the wide implementation of proper TB control practices since 1995. The global TB incidence rate peaked in 2004 and has since started a slow decline. However, despite these achievements, TB is far from being conquered globally, with 1.7 million people dying of this curable disease every year. In addition, the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB in many countries worldwide is a serious threat to the progress achieved…”