Foreign Relations Committee Passes Boxer-Smith Bill to Combat International Tuberculosis

Tuesday, September 11, 2007, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously passed legislation by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) that would increase funding to combat international tuberculosis.

Senator Boxer said, “TB is a vast international threat that claims the lives of 1.6 million people each year. The good news is that we know how to treat and cure TB. The Boxer-Smith bill will provide increased assistance for the prevention, treatment, and control of tuberculosis. We have an obligation to take the steps necessary to thwart this infectious killer immediately.”

“The rapid rise of tuberculosis has created a global health emergency,” said Senator Smith. “Along with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in developing nations, the two together create a lethal combination for millions of people each year. It is important that the U.S. take a leading role in the global effort to end TB.”

The Boxer-Smith legislation would bring U.S. policy in line with the Global Plan to Stop TB, a ten-year strategy launched last year at the World Economic Forum by an international coalition of 500 governments, NGOs, private sector organizations, and others to cut the number of TB deaths in half by 2015. The bill would authorize up to $400 million for fiscal year 2008 and up to $550 million for fiscal year 2009 for foreign assistance programs that combat international TB.

This funding increase is particularly important because of the recent outbreak of extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), a particularly virulent and lethal strain of tuberculosis which is resistant to many drugs used to combat TB.

One-third of the world is infected with the bacteria that causes TB and an estimated 8.8 million individuals develop active TB each year. Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death among women of reproductive age and of people who are HIV-positive. XDR-TB is particularly lethal. In one South Africa town, 53 TB patients were found to have XDR-TB; all but one died.

TB is also a concern in the United States. California has more TB cases than any other state in the country. Ten of the top twenty U.S. metro areas for TB case rates are in California: San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Fresno, Los Angeles, Stockton, Sacramento, Ventura, Vallejo, and Oakland.

###

Source: Barbara Boxer's Office

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •