News & Announcement
Failed Response to TB Is Morally Reprehensible, Say Stephen Lewis, Paul Farmer and Global Health Leaders
Drug-Resistant TB—a “Man-Made” Phenomenon—Highlights Need for Urgent Action
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.
Audio
Listen to the complete audio recording of the press conference.
