MDR-TB and XDR-TB are a serious threat to global health, with all countries - rich and poor - at risk. Given that MDR-TB carries a high mortality and affects all regions of the world, all countries should collaborate to reducing the suffering imposed upon men, women and children. This year, in the run up to World TB Day, WHO published new data reporting the highest levels of MDR-TB ever recorded. In some regions of north-west Russia, more than 1 in 4 people presenting with TB for the fist time were diagnosed with multidrug-resistant forms in 2008. This is taking a tremendous toll in terms of lives needlessly lost, the draining of limited resources for health, and the risk of infectious outbreaks spreading out of control.

But, at the same time - and in the same country - we are seeing "beacons", that is regions which have succeeded in the face of enormous and difficult challenges. In around five years, two oblasts in Russia, where levels of MDR-TB were once rising, are now seeing a remarkable reversal. These successes illustrate that severe MDR-TB epidemics can be halted and turned around when the right commitment to address TB is made and right policies are put in place. These two Russian oblasts join other countries, such as Estonia and Latvia that have made similar progress in recent times.

WHO is at the forefront of the international response and is working closely with Governments and partners to help strengthen basic TB control to prevent MDR-TB developing in the first place. WHO is also working to ensure proper care for those people sick with MDR-TB by making sure there are better laboratories and increased access to MDR-TB drugs to those at most risk. This will allow more people to be diagnosed rapidly, treated and cured, and thus reduce the threat of MDR-TB worldwide.

WHO continues to support innovation - the theme of this year's World TB Day - in the quest to break down the barriers that stand in the way of TB control and that led to deaths of 1.8 million people in 2008. Without innovation, and without commitment at all levels, out goal for a world free of TB will remain unreachable.