Report: Funding for tuberculosis research falling far short of goals
A new report shows that global funding for tuberculosis (TB) research is at less than half the goal set by United Nations (UN) member states, with countries falling far short of funding commitments.
The report by the Stop TB Partnership and Treatment Action Group finds that global funding for TB research totaled $915 million in 2020 and has been flat since 2018. At the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, UN member states committed to raising $2 billion annually in funding to help meet the goals of the End TB Strategy, which aims to reduce TB incidence by 80% by 2030. From 2016 to 2020, cumulative funding for TB research totaled $4.2 billion, less than half of what the Stop TB Partnership has estimated is necessary.
Overall, public sector funding accounted for 70% of overall TB research funds, at $641 million, while private philanthropies accounted for 15%, and private companies and multilateral organizations represented 10% and 5%, respectively. The number of countries meeting their fair-share target of investing 0.1% of their research budget into TB has declined since 2017, with only one country—the United Kingdom—meeting its target in 2020.
Although funding for TB did not fall off in 2020 as much as some had feared with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the groups note that the disease, which still kills roughly 1.5 million people a year and is the world's second-leading infectious disease killer, received only 1% of the amount invested in COVID-19 in 2020.
The groups say the unprecedented amount of money poured into the COVID-19 response provides a blueprint for how critical research into infectious disease can be rapidly advanced.
"The mobilization of over US$100 billion for COVID-19 research and development in the first 11 months of the pandemic shows us just how powerful a coordinated effort against a disease can be," Lucica Ditiu, MD, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, said in a press release. "We can and must harness this impressive commitment to global health toward the fight to end TB."
Dec 9 2021 report on TB research funding
Dec 9 Stop TB Partnership press release
Belgium, Pakistan, UK report more H5 avian flu outbreaks in poultry
Belgium and Pakistan reported new highly pathogenic H5 avian flu outbreaks in poultry, as the United Kingdom reported more H5N1 events and the country's chief veterinarian warned about the country's heavy burden this season.
In Belgium, animal health officials reported two H5N1 outbreaks on farms in Flanders region. The events began on Dec 3 and Dec 7, killing 1,684 of 65,438 susceptible birds, according to a notification today from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
Elsewhere, Pakistan reported four H5 outbreaks in North-West Frontier Province, including two on farms and two in backyard flocks, according to an OIE report. The outbreaks started from Nov 17 to Nov 25, and among the four events the virus killed 430 of 6,700 poultry.
Meanwhile, UK officials reported two more H5N1 outbreaks, including at an eighth location in North Yorkshire and a location in South Suffolk, according to an update from the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Britain has reported 38 outbreaks this season, and the country's Chief Veterinarian Christine Middlemiss, DVM, told the BBC that avian flu is occurring at a "phenomenal level" this season.
Dec 9 OIE report on H5N1 in Belgium
Dec 9 OIE report on H5 in Pakistan
Dec 8 DEFRA report
Dec 9 BBC report