Health – World TB Day (March 24, 2018)

Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent and was responsible for 1.7 million deaths in 2016, 95% of them in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the progress that has been made over the past 20 years, which made it possible to avoid 53 million deaths between 2000 and 2016, the challenges remain enormous. The development of forms of antimicrobial-resistant tuberculosis, which have tripled since 2010, jeopardize the progress that has been made.

This commitment can be seen in particular through our work with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which accounts for 65% of international funding for programs to combat tuberculosis, and with UNITAID, which allocates 20% of its funding for that purpose. Expertise France, the French Development Agency, civil society, research institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry are also actively involved in research and innovation to combat tuberculosis and are helping to strengthen health care systems in the countries most affected.

After the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB organized by the World Health Organization in Moscow in November 2017, the UN General Assembly will hold the first high-level meeting on tuberculosis on September 26 in New York. This event, in which France will participate, should culminate in ambitious commitments to bring an end to tuberculosis.