To Win Fight Against AIDS, We Must First Defeat TB

Thursday, December 5, 2013

This week, tremendous and unprecedented progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS is being celebrated around the world by the HIV and AIDS community. The world has definitely made crushing AIDS a top priority and we’ve been able to accomplish what many would have said 15 years ago was impossible. But let’s not forget that if the dream of making this the generation that defeats AIDS is to become reality, we must also tackle the leading killer of people with HIV – tuberculosis (TB).

The overlap of TB and HIV is a deadly combination with tragic consequences. TB is the leading killer of people with HIV, accounting for one in four HIV-related deaths. Globally, one-third of the 34 million people living with HIV is infected with TB, and if left unchecked and untreated, TB can kill a person with HIV/AIDS in a matter of weeks. Furthermore, the alarming increase in multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) threatens to reverse progress made against HIV/AIDS despite our efforts to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals related to TB.

Source: IIP Digital (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care