Achieving Health for All through Research and Development

Pietro Turilli , Senior Vice President, External Affairs, TB Alliance

We have seen enormous strides forward in the control of COVID-19 since the start of this new pandemic nearly three years ago. New, effective vaccines, tests, and treatments were developed with unprecedented speed, and efforts are underway to ensure they reach those in need. This has been the result of an unprecedented level of global collaboration and investment that has recognized the urgency of the situation. At the same time, the level of investment seen throughout this new pandemic has not assured an equitable distribution of the necessary tools even to eradicate COVID-19.

The remarkable work we saw through COVID-19 also exposed how little attention and funding other pandemics and global health threats receive, including tuberculosis (TB), malaria, HIV, and a range of neglected diseases.

TB is often considered a ‘forgotten’ disease, largely because TB primarily impacts the poor and those living in low- to middle-income countries. Airborne diseases like TB can more easily spread in places where access to health services may be more difficult and where people are more likely to live in close proximity to one another.

TB was declared a public health emergency in 1993 – nearly 30 years ago. More than two billion people harbor TB bacteria, more than 10 million people develop active TB each year, and about 1.5 million people die from this disease year after year. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made things worse.

TB kills more people each day than COVID-19, but the global response to TB is clearly failing.

The potential benefits from greater investment in TB, both for research and development as well as for enhancing health care systems’ capabilities, are enormous. With adequate funding, we envision a world where we could dramatically improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of TB. We also would ensure that all the scientific advances would reach those in need, bringing the TB pandemic under control within our lifetimes, if not hitting the Sustainable Development Goal of 2030.

Immediate action is needed to counteract the negative effects that COVID-19 has had on TB spread and mortality. With global political will and delivery of necessary resources to enhance the healthcare infrastructures, we can fight to end TB.

Scaling up investments in R&D innovations and equitable access is necessary to achieve health for all. For more on this topic, find additional details from a panel session that TB Alliance joined during the UNGA 77 Science Summit along with global health experts and leaders from around the world. Find out more here: https://www.tballiance.org/join-us-unga-77-science-summit