New measures to prevent tuberculosis unveiled ahead of UN event on AIDS

(June 07, 2011) :Ahead of this week’s high-level United Nations meeting on AIDS, the “Stop TB Partnership” on Monday, unveiled five simple steps that could prevent tuberculosis, which is responsible for one in four AIDS-related deaths. Close to 400,000 people die of HIV-related TB each year, according to the “Stop TB Partnership”. It said the measures presented on Monday could treat and prevent tuberculosis that could save the lives of one million people with HIV/AIDS worldwide by 2015. “There has been a surge in awareness about the deadly TB epidemic among people living with HIV, but insufficient action,” said Jorge Sampaio, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Stop TB, and former president of Portugal. “Now new scientific work has shown that we can prevent a million deaths among people living with HIV by end 2015 by providing integrated HIV and TB care,” he added.
“Halving TB deaths in people living with HIV by 2015 is possible and is within our reach,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We could save up to a million lives by 2015 and bring us one step closer to the UNAIDS vision of Zero AIDS deaths!” Sidibé added.