GENEVA, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Two international drug funds said Monday that they had stepped in to provide 26 million dollars in life-saving tuberculosis treatment for three quarters of a million people in poor countries.
UNITAID and the Stop TB partnership said they were trying to prevent a hazardous gap in treatment for patients in 19 countries in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of Stop TB, said that an interruption, partly due to delays in other support, could create a breeding ground for drug-resistant tuberculosis.
"This collaboration will deliver drugs to more than three quarters of a million people who otherwise might not get treatment or could have their treatment interrupted because no drugs were available," Espinal said.
"They will ensure avoiding the creation of drug resistant tuberculosis," he told journalists.
Espinal said the principal international backer, the multi-billion dollar Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, would not be able to provide agreed funding for projects in those countries for another 18 months to two years.
The countries targeted include Bangladesh, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Iraq, Tajikistan and 14 African nations.
The drugs will come from generic manufacturers in India, officials said.
Nearly nine million people contract tuberculosis every year and 1.6 million people die from the disease, according to the World Health Organisation.
Tuberculosis can be particularly lethal for those with HIV/AIDS. The lung ailment has reached epidemic levels in developing countries with high HIV infection rates.
UNITAID was set up with the backing of Brazil, Britain, Chile, France and Norway, and a levy from airline tickets, while Stop TB is a network of more than 500 non-governmental organisations, countries and donors. All are backed by the WHO.
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