January 2016

This week, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) convened a formal launch of the President's National Action Plan (NAP) for Combating Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, a roadmap to strengthen global and domestic TB control capacity and accelerate research into the development of new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools. The event featured the directors of the lead federal agencies involved in developing and implementing the plan, USAID Deputy Administrator Alfonso Lenhardt; John Holdren, PhD, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease; and Tom Frieden, MD, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Frieden said "It is shameful that the leading infectious cause of death is curable." He continued, "The clock is ticking and every government needs to take vigorous action."  Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) spoke to the conference via video message and pledged their commitment to pushing to implement the NAP.

The NAP's key targets for 2020 are to:

• Reduce global TB incidence by 25 percent compared to 2015 levels.
• Reduce by 15 percent the number of cases of MDR-TB disease in the U.S.
• Initiate appropriate treatment in 50 percent of patients with MDR-TB in 10 of the most highly burdened countries.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will coordinate implementation of the NAP with the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. Beginning in September 2016 and each year afterwards until 2020, the lead implementing agencies will publish a progress report on the NAP's implementation. Adequate funding of the plan remains a big question. The ATS will continue to lead efforts to support the implementation of the NAP. View the NAP here.