Washington, Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Japan and other donors should increase the money they give countries beset with a tuberculosis epidemic to close a $4.5 billion health care funding gap, the World Bank and World Health Organization said.
``A major injection of development aid is needed to meet our goals,'' WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland told reporters in Washington.
With TB infections on the rise in the U.S. and other industrialized countries, ``this is not only the right thing to do, but it is also an act of enlightened self-interest,'' he said.
Rich countries provide about $200 million a year to treat and prevent the ailment's spread in Pakistan, Russia, Nigeria and other nations and invest in research. They would have to increase their annual support by $900 million over five years to close the funding gap on their own.
The U.S., which typically provides about a fifth of international funds, should vastly increase its assistance to impoverished countries, including in the fight against TB's spread, Brundtland said.
TB claims 2 million lives every year and infects 8 million people, Brundtland said.
The $4.5 billion sought would bring total spending on TB to $9.3 billion in five years, with about half of those funds coming from the countries fighting the infection, Brundtland said.
The World Bank isn't expecting donor countries to fill the whole shortfall to carry out a campaign to slash the infection rate for TB, said Diana Weil, a public health specialist at the lender.
The bank, which has about $350 million in loans outstanding to help countries contend with TB, is ready to approve as much as $200 million more to fight the disease, Weil said.
``Anything goes,'' said Josef Ritzen, a World Bank vice president. ``The World Bank will finance every good project.''
Airborne Particles
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a mycobacterium that spreads through airborne particles when infected people cough or sneeze. It can be cured if caught and treated appropriately, often with generic antibiotics that can cost as little as $10 for a full course of drugs.
Drug-resistant strains are spreading worldwide, making treatment more difficult and expensive. The disease affects the lungs, with symptoms including coughing, chest pain, fever and weight loss.
Improved Treatment
About one in three people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa dies of tuberculosis, making improved treatment a major priority of the global campaign to halt the spread of AIDS.
Typically the generic drugs rifampin and isoniazid are used to treat TB, and when drug-resistant bacteria are involved, patients need to take multi-drug combinations or newer, expensive antibiotics.
Makers of the generic antibiotics include Aventis SA, Econ Labs Manufacturing, Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Apothecon, as well as companies based in developing countries.
The U.S., with the world's largest economy, provides foreign aid equivalent to about 0.1 percent of its economic output in foreign aid, or $10 billion, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which tracks assistance levels.
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who heads the subcommittee that shapes the Senate's foreign aid bill, is calling on President George W. Bush to pump an extra $1.2 billion into U.S. funding to fight AIDS, TB and malaria in the fiscal year that began this month.
--Emily Schwartz in Washington (202) 624-1927 or eschwartz@bloomberg.net with reporting by Kristin Reed in Washington and Michelle Fay Cortez in Anacortes, Washington /jo
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