The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing this week on the threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: The Next Global Health Crisis?

“Our next great global public health crisis may very well be multidrug-resistant tuberculosis,” warned Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) as he initiated the briefing. “A sustained focus on tuberculosis prevention today will save lives and money tomorrow, helping people the world over as well protecting the homeland from what otherwise could become a global pandemic,” he said.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez testified about USAID’s support for TB activities worldwide. “TB is now the leading infectious killer in the world, killing more than 4,100 individuals every day; there are now more deaths from TB than from HIV,” said Dr. Pablos-Méndez. USAID is committed to directing its future investments in high-burden TB countries to achieve even greater global health progress, Dr. Pablos-Méndez noted, adding that “reducing TB morbidity and mortality is an important element of USAID’s efforts to improve global health and reduce poverty.” Since USAID’s TB program began almost 20 years ago, 43 million lives have been saved, and in in the past year alone, USAID has helped provide high-quality TB treatment to more than 2.7 million TB patients, including 60,000 MDR-TB patients.

“The USAID TB program has been a major catalyst in decreasing the TB burden in many countries through direct action and through efforts to build partnerships with national TB programs, ministries of health, multilateral organizations, civil society, and affected communities,” said Dr. Pablos-Méndez. “USAID’s investments in combating TB have already yielded impressive health dividends, and under the new U.S. Government Global TB Strategy, USAID intends to further our impact by increasing our efforts to reach, cure, and prevent TB through access to diagnosis, care, and prevention by 2015,” he added.

The Honorable Eric Goosby, M.D., Special Envoy on Tuberculosis for the United Nations, also briefed the subcommittee, saying that while we can prevent, diagnose and cure drug-sensitive TB, particular attention is needed in addressing multidrug-resistant TB as it increasingly presents a serious challenge. “We can do better. We must do better, but we need to act now,” he urged.

Tom Frieden, M.D., Director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also testified. “Each year, 1.5 million people die from a disease that is nearly 100 percent preventable. But to prevent these deaths, we must greatly improve the application of currently proven tools and also innovate to end TB as a global public health threat,” he said.

Learn more

• Listen to a full recording of the briefing and view written testimony.
• Find information on USAID’s TB Program.
• Read more on drug-resistant TB and USAID’s drug-donation partnership with Johnson & Johnson to tackle MDR-TB.