About Open Society & Tuberculosis
The emergence of extensively drug-resistant TB sounds the alarm that the world is facing an urgent health crisis. People and communities have the right to demand more effective action from their governments and from global leaders.
—George Soros at the 2006 World Conference on Lung Health
According to estimates from the World Health Organization, there are nearly nine million cases of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide every year, resulting in 1.6 million deaths. Although TB is curable, it is the leading cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Failure to properly address TB has led to drug-resistant strains of the disease, which are more complicated and costly to diagnose and treat. About 420,000 new cases of drug-resistant TB are diagnosed each year, but only two percent of these cases receive treatment under current health systems.
The Open Society Foundations is a member of the Stop TB Partnership and works with civil society organizations to monitor national efforts to control TB and TB/HIV co-infection.
