NEW YORK—On Wednesday, March 14, 14:00 GMT, 10:00 AM EST, George Soros will join global health leaders on an audio press conference to urge immediate action and funding to quell the explosion of drug-resistant tuberculosis—fueled by the AIDS pandemic—in southern Africa.
Strains of extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) have now been found in 28 countries. In South Africa, the death rate for people co-infected with HIV and XDR-TB is 85 percent. And in the first reported outbreak of XDR-TB in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, 52 of 53 patients identified with XDR-TB died—half within just 16 days. To stop this public health crisis, support for basic TB control programs is urgently needed.
On Wednesday, George Soros’ Open Society Institute will call upon governments to provide the lifesaving funds necessary to battle HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant TB. OSI will announce millions of dollars in funding to combat the twin epidemics. The OSI grant to Partners In Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital will allow health workers in southern Africa and elsewhere to more effectively treat people living with both diseases who might otherwise die in a matter of weeks.
What
Audio press conference to announce emergency funding to control HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant TB
When
Wednesday, March 14, 14:00 GMT, 10:00 AM EST
Who
- George Soros, Chair and Founder, Open Society Institute
- Dr. Paul Farmer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University; Co-Founder, Partners In Health, a non-profit organization that has been at the forefront of treating multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and HIV/AIDS in resource-poor settings for almost 20 years
- Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University; Co-Founder, Partners In Health; former director of HIV/AIDS department at World Health Organization
- Right Honorable Minister Mphu Ramatlapeng, Senator, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Lesotho
- Joanne Carter (moderator), Associate Executive Director, RESULTS Educational Fund
Audio Playback
An audio playback of this press conference is available. To access the playback, please dial the following telephone number for your location and enter passcode 5402035:
- United States/Canada: 1-888-203-1112
- Other Countries: 1-719-457-0820
Background
HIV/AIDS and TB work in deadly synergy. TB is the leading infectious killer for people living with HIV/AIDS, and AIDS is fueling a resurgence of TB in many areas of the world, particularly in Africa. When TB is improperly treated, strains of the bacteria can become resistant to the critical most TB drugs. These resistant strains are especially deadly and are far more difficult—though not impossible—to treat and cure.