thousands ofpeople representing hundreds of organizations from around the worldgathered in Rio de Janeiro for the third UN-backed ?Stop TB Partners? Forum.?
One ofthe people that attended was Dr. Lee Reichman of the Stop TB partnerships.He is also the executive director of the New Jersey Medical School NationalTuberculosis Center and principal investigator for the National Institute ofHealth (NIH) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grants relatedto tuberculosis.
says that health experts hope to "cut in half thenumber of tuberculosis-related cases and deaths by 2015.? The Stop TB Partnershipwas established in 2000 with its main goal being the elimination of tuberculosisas a global public health problem.
This year?s slogan, ?I amstopping TB,? is the beginning of a two-year campaign to call on peopleeverywhere to get involved in the campaign to stop the disease. ?TB is one ofthe biggest killers?and the paradox is it?s preventable and curable,? he says.He adds that this year?s theme ?calls on us to generate the political will andinterest to fight TB.?
Dr. Reichman says the tools to fight TB are oldand need to be revamped. ?We have not had a new drug to treat TB in almostfifty years,? he says. One of the biggest problems in the fight against TB, accordingto most health experts, is effective diagnosis.