In the new arrangement, the WHO, with help from other groups, will oversee purchasing and distributing drugs, focusing on 22 countries with the highest TB rates. The arrangement extends for only two years because of lingering mistrust of the organization from outside public health experts. The new programs have emerged at a time when the incidence of tuberculosis is on the rise, to 8.4 million sick last year from 8 million in 1999.
Tuberculosis passes from person to person through the air, often through a cough or a sneeze.
At the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, which overlooks Lake Como and the Italian Alps on 50 acres of gardens and lawns, the meetings have included some of the most impressive breakthroughs in public health in the last 40 years. For years, leaders of the WHO had insisted on complete control over TB policy, over the fierce objections of public health leaders in non-governmental organizations and donor countries. During the past six months, WHO officials conducted a review of TB coverage and incidence rates. One obvious focus was the world's two most populous nations, China and India, which accounted for nearly 40 percent of all cases last year. The review also found that five of the 22 countries with the highest incidence of TB did not have a proper plan of attack.