PEPFAR to Increase Response to HIV, TB Co-Infection

In advance of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day later this week, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced it is planning to increase its response to tuberculosis globally by supporting programs that integrate HIV prevention, treatment and care with TB services.

PEPFAR is a five-year, $15 billion program to combat HIV/AIDS focusing on 15 countries, the majority of which are in Africa.

According to a World Health Organization report released this week, TB is a major cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS, and HIV is the main reason for failure to meet TB control targets in high HIV settings, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS is dramatically fuelling the TB epidemic. Collaboration between TB and HIV programs is key to reducing the burden of TB among people living with HIV, the report said.

"In the last year, we have seen unprecedented collaboration between the TB and HIV communities, but much more is needed if we are to achieve our goal of universal access to quality TB and HIV prevention, diagnostic, treatment and care services," Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said in response to the report.

To help combat the problem, PEPFAR has strengthened its ties with the World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Mark Dybul said.

"By the end of September 2006, PEPFAR had supported care for approximately 301,000 TB/HIV co-infected people in our 15 focus countries," he said. "With the more than doubling in funding for TB/HIV activities between 2006 and 2007, we hope to substantially increase the number of people reached with TB/HIV services."