Newswise — March 24, 2010, 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 controlling drug resistant TB and 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 Stop TB USA 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 forHIV/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 J. Randall Curtis, MD, said, “Tuberculosis is the second leading infectious disease killer in the world, yet we are still fighting this disease with one hand tied behind our back because the tools that we have to identify, treat and prevent the disease are outdated and global and domestic TB programs are under-funded. Less than two years ago, two historic laws on TB were enacted. The ATS urges Congress and the administration to put the U.S. back on the path to TB elimination and reduce the global TB burden by fully funding these measures.”
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