Failure to adequately address HIV/tuberculosis coinfection is "undermining" recent gains against HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials said at the first HIV/TB Global Leaders Forum at U.N. headquarters in New York, the New York Times reports.
According to the officials, TB is the leading cause of death among HIV-positive people in Africa and a leading cause of death worldwide (Altman, New York Times, 6/10). U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "This is shocking: no one should die of TB, a preventable and curable disease, in this prosperous and technology-rich 21st century" (Xinhuanet, 6/9).
Jorge Sampaio, U.N. special envoy for TB who convened the meeting, called for an integrated approach to treat HIV/TB coinfection. According to a report recently released by Ban, HIV/AIDS treatment access in low- and middle-income countries increased by 42% last year to reach three million people, about 30% of those in need. However, Sampaio said, "TB undermines investment in lifesaving drug treatment for people who are living with HIV" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 6/9).
According to Mario Raviglione, director of the World Health Organization's Stop TB Department, at least 700,000 cases of HIV/TB coinfection develop annually. He added that this year, about 230,000 people living with HIV/AIDS will die from TB. The number includes those who received antiretrovirals but not treatment to cure drug-sensitive TB (New York Times, 6/10). Ban said, "Despite the fact that HIV and TB frequently occur in the same one person, we continue to deal with the two diseases separately" (Xinhuanet, 6/9). However, Raviglione cited some progress, including an increase in the number of TB patients tested for HIV in Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda.