WORLD BANK FAILING IN FIGHT AGAINST TB IN AFRICA, REPORT SAYS

A new report released by RESULTS International says the World Bank is failing to provide African countries with the support to fight tuberculosis (TB) that it has effectively provided to other major endemic countries such as China, India and Russia.

The report, "Enduring Neglect: The World Bank's Inadequate Support for Africa's TB Emergency," documents that while more than a third of the world's 1.7 million TB deaths occur in Africa, less than five percent of the World Bank's funding to fight TB worldwide over the past five years has gone to African countries.

In Africa, only 0.6 percent -- or $3.5 million -- of the bank's health-sector investment in the region went to TB in 2005, even though the rate of TB is increasing in Africa at 5 percent per year, and TB is the single largest killer of people with HIV/AIDS, according to the report.

In contrast, the bank has provided some $1.2 billion in financing for HIV/AIDS in 29 African countries since 2000 and has also begun a three-year initiative to spend $500 million on malaria, the group says.

"We urge the World Bank to re-evaluate its priorities and make major, direct investments in proven methods to help control Africa's TB emergency," said Joanne Carter, director of global initiatives at the RESULTS Educational Fund.