4 December 2009 | Cancun, Mexico -- Tuberculosis is still taking the lives of some 4500 people every day, despite massive efforts across the world to control it.
"We have made considerable progress. But the evidence points to an urgent need to do more, do it better and do it faster," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership
The 2010-2011 World TB Day campaign, On the move against tuberculosis: Innovate to accelerate action, launched today, speaks to this need for a new way forward. World TB Day is held each year on 24 March.
"The year 2010 marks the halfway point for the Global Plan to Stop TB. It is clearer than ever that we will not achieve our targets unless we find new and innovative ways to stop TB --including stepped up research to find new drugs, diagnostic techniques and a new vaccine; and new approaches to helping people access effective TB treatment," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Stop TB Department of the World Health Organization.
Plans for the campaign were announced at the opening ceremony of the World Conference on Lung Health of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease this evening.