Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(New York, USA) – On World AIDS Day, World Lung Foundation commended the U.S. government for emphasizing the importance of targeted TB-HIV intervention as a critical means to achieve its goal of an AIDS-free generation. According to the Stop TB Partnership, more than 1,000 people infected with HIV die every day from tuberculosis (TB) and it is the most common cause of death among people living with HIV in Africa.
In the PEPFAR Blueprint, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator noted “TB is the most common opportunistic infection among people with HIV, and HIV makes a person highly vulnerable to moving from a state of latent TB infection to the development of TB disease. Conversely, having TB disease accelerates HIV disease progression and HIV-infected TB patients are at high risk for death and often die early.”
Peter Baldini, Chief Executive Officer, World Lung Foundation commented: “We applaud the US government for its leadership in prioritizing TB-HIV in its PEPFAR roadmap. Co-infection dramatically worsens the prognosis for a TB or an HIV patient, and major technological advances have made it increasingly possible to prevent. Governments must work towards universal HIV testing for TB patients as well as early TB case detection, prevention and case management.
“Fundamentally, TB and TB-HIV co-infection are diseases of the poor, meaning the people with the fewest resources bear the heaviest burden. The U.S. government’s vision, while achievable, will require involvement and new investment at all levels, including national governments, donor agencies, charitable organization, faith-based organizations and civil society. It is not enough to just have a plan, funding and human resources must be matched against that plan to make progress a reality.”
According to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, one-third of the world’s 33.3 million HIV-positive individuals are also infected with the bacterium that causes TB.