The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease has been working to eliminate TB since its founding in 1920. It's still possible to add TB to the list of diseases humankind has totally eliminated, says the organization's new leader — but first, there's the issue of money.
“It's absolutely doable. It's just that it's hard work, and unfortunately, it's expensive,” Dr. Cassandra Kelly-Cirino, who in early October took the helm of the membership organization known widely as The Union, told Devex in her first interview as its new executive director.
Despite the fact that TB kills more people every year than malaria or HIV, efforts to fight it suffer from chronic underfunding — which makes it harder to find and treat cases and impacts the development and deployment of critical innovations.