USAID Pledges Extra $23M in Expanded Tuberculosis Battle

Today, the United States, through USAID, announced more than $23 million, as well as new efforts to support countries in fighting tuberculosis (TB) and reaching global targets set at a meeting during United Nations High Level Week. Working with Congress, the new efforts - part of USAID's Global Accelerator to End TB Plus package - is part of more than $394 million in planned FY 2023 investments and illustrates USAID's steadfast commitment to ending TB globally. The announcements include:

• Working with Congress, USAID will use $8.5 million to provide increased support to TB programs in conflict settings, especially among the most at-risk populations in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Burma;
• USAID will select up to two USAID TB priority countries to receive up to an additional $15 million in FY 2023 funding to roll out new TB innovations at the community and primary health care levels, with additional funding planned in FY 2024, subject to the availability of funds;
• To advance the prevention of TB globally, USAID and the U.S. Department of State, through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership's Global Drug Facility, worked to secure a 30 percent price reduction for a shortened TB prevention regimen, enabling these agencies to expand their impact, with plans to reach more than 2.5 million individuals with a $25 million procurement of these treatments. To scale up treatment access, USAID will launch a donation program for its TB priority countries to apply for these drugs.
• USAID is initiating a prevention drug technology transfer to a local pharmaceutical manufacturer in Africa;
• With the SMART4TB Consortium led by Johns Hopkins, USAID launched BREACH-TB, a new foundational clinical trial on a TB preventive therapy regimen that will lay the foundation for the future study of a single-dose, long-acting injectable medicine; and
• As part of USAID's localization efforts, USAID is committing to allocating 60 percent of TB country funding directly to local partners by 2027.