U.S. Government Roles in Control of Global Tuberculosis

November 22, 2016

Tuberculosis (TB) leads to more deaths worldwide than any other infectious disease. Yet, TB programs face a persistent lack of prioritization in national and global health agendas. While most TB cases can be treated with readily available drugs, an increasing number of TB patients contract multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) or extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), which are much more difficult and expensive to treat. Drug-resistant TB represents a risk to global health security because of an airborne route of infection, low treatment success rates, and high mortality rates.

There is a window of opportunity for the next U.S. president to elevate the fight against TB within his administration. This report highlights opportunities for optimizing the U.S. contribution to global TB control and presents recommendations for strengthening the leadership, coherence, accountability, and effectiveness of U.S. global TB programs.