Lilly: Forging Alliances is Crucial to Fighting Tuberculosis

Mar 26, 2015 12:45 PM ET

Forging Alliances is Crucial to Fighting Tuberculosis

Today’s guest Blogger is Dr. Lasha Goguadze, Senior Health Officer, Global Tuberculosis Programme, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He is based in Geneva.

On World TB Day, the world focuses on what yet needs to be done to stop this dreaded disease.  Equally important is taking stock of what has worked already in order to accelerate momentum.  At IFRC, it is clear that alliances, partnerships, and collaborations are more than ‘nice-to-haves.’ These represent a fundamental ‘must’ to achieving our objectives.

Before sharing our experience, let me describe the challenge:  TB remains the leading cause of death from an infectious disease together with HIV. Each year new cases of TB amount to 9 million while claiming 1.5 million lives – despite being preventable and curable!

Read on for more about the global risk associated with TB.