Four things to know:
1. The commission comprises 37 commissioners from 13 countries who develop policy recommendations for countries with high TB rates.
2. The group outlined several strategies to eliminate TB in a report published March 20 in The Lancet. Strategies include boosting investments in rapid diagnostics and facilitating more vaccine development.
3. The commission estimated an annual budget of $10 billion — plus an initial $5 billion investment increase every year — would be needed to implement these initiatives globally. However, savings from preventing TB deaths are estimated to be three times the costs, the commission noted.
4. TB is a curable disease but kills 1.6 million annually.
“TB control strategies, new health technologies, sustained global economic growth, increased commitment to achieve universal health coverage and growing political momentum could all make ending TB within a generation more feasible than ever before,” report co-author Michael Reid, MD, an infectious disease clinical fellow at the University of California San Francisco, said in a press release.
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