The American Thoracic Society signed onto a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recommending fiscal year 2023 funding levels for global tuberculosis  programs at the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).  The global TB pandemic, including the rapid spread of drug-resistant TB, poses a serious global security threat. To combat global TB, the signatories recommend $1 billion for USAID’s global TB program, $2 billion for the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund, and increasing the total funding for TB research and development across key U.S. research institutions to at least $444.5 million. 

The COVID-19 emergency in the U.S., and its economic impact, has strained the state and local budgets that fund most TB services, putting TB funding at risk.  The ATS signed onto a second letter to OMB recommending funding of $225 million in fiscal year 2023 for the Centers for Disease Control domestic Division of TB Elimination (DTBE) program.  In addition, the signatories requested $21 million in direct support for global TB efforts at the CDC’s Division of Global HIV and TB.