USA – Researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have joined a US$200 million international consortium who are working on control methods to lessen the suffering caused by tuberculosis (TB) worldwide.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded consortium is creating innovative diagnostic, therapeutic, containment and control strategies to reduce the suffering from tuberculosis (TB) around the world.
The project, Supporting, Mobilizing and Accelerating Research for Tuberculosis Elimination (SMART4TB), is led by Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM).
Other consortium partners are KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (KNCV), Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and Treatment Action Group (TAG)
According to World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 (including 214 000 people with HIV).
Worldwide, TB is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 (above HIV/AIDS).
TB exists in all nations and among all age groups and can be treated and avoided. However, health professionals frequently ignore child and adolescent TB, which can be challenging to identify and treat.
Globally, 10 million cases of tuberculosis (TB) were expected in 2020. There were 1.1 million children, 3.3 million women, and 5.6 million males.
TB exists in all nations and among all age groups and can be treated and avoided. However, health professionals frequently ignore child and adolescent TB, which can be challenging to identify and treat.
86 percent of new cases of TB were found in the 30 countries with the highest TB burden in 2020, according to WHO.
Payam Nahid, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at UCSF, director of the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis, and project director of the UCSF subaward, states that USAID’s SMART4TB program represents a major step forward through investments in TB research and development.
She also added that local capacity-building with five regional hubs will accelerate the delivery of new tools and approaches to addressing this global public health emergency.
The regional centers includes : KSA State Medical College (Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan), Walimu (Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania)
Health Consortium PHRU/Wits (South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe)Care YRG (India and Bangladesh), VIRGINIA Network (Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines) also form part of the functional areas.
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