Newswise — March 24, 2009, will mark World TB Day. On this day around the world, the public health and scientific community will raise public awareness about tuberculosis and the challenges that remain in controlling it globally, such as the urgent need to develop new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools.
The ATS, originally founded as the American Sanatorium Association, is a leader in domestic and global TB control. The ATS holds key membership's in the lead advocacy organizations on TB, including the recently renamed Stop TB USA (formerly National Coalition for the Elimination of TB) and the global Stop TB Partnership.
In 2008, the Congress passed historic laws to combat TB globally and domestically, The Lantos-Hyde Leadership against HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria Act and the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act. The Lantos-Hyde Act, which reauthorized the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), commits the U.S. to implementing the Global Plan to Stop TB.
The Lantos-Hyde Act also does the following:"¢ Provides a plan for effective coordination of TB and HIV programs."¢ Authorizes $4 billion over 5 years for USAID and CDC global TB programs.
In recognition of the need to strengthen domestic TB control, the Congress passed the Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act. The law is based on the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine for the elimination of TB in the U.S. The law does the following:"¢ Expands efforts to prevent outbreaks of drug resistant TB"¢ Targets support to federal, state, and local health authorities to detect, treat, and prevent in the foreign-born population, in U.S., minorities, and along the U.S.-Mexico border."¢ Provides an urgently needed reinvestment into new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools through the CDC and NIH.
ATS President Jo Rae Wright, Ph.D., said, "We have made major progress over the past year in strengthening global and domestic TB control through the ATS' leadership in securing enactment of the Lantos-Hyde Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act." Dr. Wright continued, "Now our task is to ensure that Congress fully funds these historic laws implement the Global Plan to Stop TB, and to put the U.S. on the path to TB elimination."
RSS