World Tuberculosis day came and went March 24 with hardly a notice in the press.
And yet Doctors Without Borders notes that the Global Fund has cancelled $2 billion in treatment, because rich donor countries haven’t come through with promised funding.
We are so very close to a solution to a killer that has dogged humanity since antiquity, and this is not the time for that old political trick of promising money in front of the cameras, then ignoring that promise when the bill comes.
For the first time in history, TB is on the decline, but it is becoming harder to treat, in part because of inconsistent funding. One-third of the world’s population has been exposed to TB – we can’t hide from it.
When will the Harper government pressure our global partners to come through with their promised funding?
Nathaniel Poole
Victoria
