AMN
United Nations member states have agreed on a global plan to step up fight against tuberculosis, the world’s number one killer among infectious diseases.
The text of a final declaration will be formally adopted at the first- ever TB summit on 26th of this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
At the summit, world leaders will commit to end the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030 and come up with 13 billion US dollars annually to achieve the goal. According to final declaration, an additional 2 billion US dollars will be spent globally to fund tuberculosis research.
Last year, the World Health Organisation, WHO sounded alarmed when it said tuberculosis had surpassed HIV/AIDS as the world’s number one infectious killer and was the ninth cause of death worldwide. As per WHO, about 1.7 million people died from TB in 2016.
Five countries are the hardest- hit by the TB pandemic including India, which accounts for a quarter of cases. Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan are among these countries.