How a US-SA row could hamper attempts to end the TB pandemic
New York — It’s the world’s number-one killer among infectious diseases, but tuberculosis (TB) has been eclipsed by HIV/Aids as a focus of global attention and donor funding. When world leaders gather at the UN in September, they will be asked to change that by committing to end the TB pandemic by 2030 and come up with $13bn annually to achieve that goal. However, a row between the US and SA threatens to cast a pall over the first high-level meeting on TB, to be held on the sidelines of the general assembly meeting in New York. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, whose global fund has done game-changing work to boost public health in poor countries, will be among the headliners of the TB summit on September 26. "TB is not a disease of the past, but if the world works together to fight it, I have no doubt it can be," Gates said in post on Twitter. Two months of negotiations on a final declaration were scheduled to wrap up in July, but the talks have dragged on after SA opposed US ...
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