Press Release

24 March 2005

UK Government Pledges £5m for Stop TB Partnership

The UK Government today pledged £5m to help fund the work of the Stop TB Partnership over the next three years. This is more than double the support given over the previous three-year period, and makes DFID the third biggest donor to Stop TB.

Announcing funding, to coincide with World TB day, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said:

“Tuberculosis is a wholly preventable tragedy and it is primarily a disease of the poor. Every 15 seconds someone dies from it, yet almost every person could and should have been cured.

The money we are announcing today will fund STOP TB’s work in developing countries, helping them provide medical and technical advice and assistance to governments who are tackling TB.”

The UK’s Department for International Development is working to reverse the spread of TB globally by:

• Funding theWorld Health Organisation (WHO) andStop TB to provide medical and technical advice to governments in developing countries;
• funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM). The UK has pledged £259m to 2008 (we are the fourth biggest donor). We will be holding a replenishment conference in September. To date 13 per cent of approved GFATM grants have been for tackling TB;
• supporting research and development. DFID research programmes on TB include support of £5.2m for the London and Liverpool Schools of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Our research is, for example, helping identify ways of preventing TB in people with HIV infection in Zambia and Kenya. We also give significant research contributions to theMedical Research Council and the WHO;
• working with country governments to build up the systems that deliver health services to the poor. These are essential for delivering TB drugs. We have committed over £1.5bn to this work since 1997;
• providing cheaper anti-TB treatments. DFID is working with others, including G8 colleagues, to secure greater international commitment to affordable pricing for medicines, including drugs to treat TB.

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