The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that an international consortium of leading organizations in tuberculosis control, including The Union, will manage its new global programme, Challenge TB. Over the next five years, USAID will invest US $525 million dollars in the global fight against TB through Challenge TB.
The international consortium will be led by KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (KNCV) of The Netherlands. This is USAID’s fourth flagship tuberculosis program since 2000, all implemented by the same coalition led by KNCV. The current USAID program, TB CARE I, covered 17 countries and helped to save the lives of 4 million people.
Every year 8.6 million people develop TB. One third of them are not properly diagnosed or notified. Many are also co-infected with TB and HIV: TB is the number one cause of death among people living with HIV. The new Challenge TB programme will advance an integrated approach to HIV/AIDS and TB control. Involving local communities is also an important part of the programme, as is halting the spread of drug-resistant forms of TB. Challenge TB will focus on high TB-burden countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
In addition to KNCV and The Union, the other partners in the consortium are the American Thoracic Society (ATS), FHI 360, Interactive Research & Development (IRD), Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association (JATA), Management Sciences for Health (MSH), PATH and the World Health Organization (WHO).