WHO: World must fight drug-resistant TB threat
Source: AFP
By GILLIAN WONG – Mar 31, 2009
BEIJING (AP) — The World Health Organization’s chief warned Wednesday that emerging, hard-to-treat strains of tuberculosis are set to spiral out of control and urged countries to fight the growing threat to global public health.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told health ministers and senior officials from 27 countries worst-affected by the new drug-resistant strains of TB that they must make dramatic improvements in detecting infections and build stronger health care systems.
“Call it what you may — a time-bomb or a powder keg,” Chan said at the opening of a three-day meeting on drug-resistant TB in Beijing. “Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation.”
In a spur to action, software magnate Bill Gates’ foundation and the Chinese government announced a $33 million project to test new ways to diagnose drug-resistant TB, new treatments and better ways to track patients.
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April 9th, 2009 at 3:20 am
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