Failed Response to TB Is Morally Reprehensible, Say Stephen Lewis, Paul Farmer and Global Health Leaders

MEDIA ADVISORY

What

International Audio Press Conference: Wed., Oct 31, 10:00 a.m. EDT (14:00 GMT)

Who

Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World and former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
Paul Farmer, Founding Director of Partners In Health
Nesri Padayatchi, Site Manager of Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Gregg Gonsalves, HIV/TB Coordinator of AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)

View biographies of the speakers.

Why

Each year, nearly two million people die of TB, a curable disease. Failure to properly address TB has led to deadly, drug-resistant strains. Drug-resistant TB is more complicated and expensive to diagnose and treat, especially for HIV-positive people. The outbreak of drug-resistant TB in New York City in the mid-1990s cost over $1 billion to control. Despite global commitment to treat 1.6 million people with drug-resistant TB by 2015, little progress has been made. Today, of the more than 420,000 new cases of drug-resistant TB annually, only 2 percent are receiving treatment.

RSVP Required

For toll free press conference dial-in, use code # 8315249:

• United States/Canada: call 888-726-2470
• South Africa: call 0-800-981-188
• United Kingdom: call 0-808-101-1402

Click here for a complete list of countries and phone numbers.

Click here for more information about drug-resistant TB.

View more information about the 2007 Union World Conference on Lung Health on the conference website.