Half a million TB patients to get free drugs under new UN health agency accord

With tuberculosis killing one person every 15 seconds, half a million of the world's poorest TB patients are set to benefit from free life-saving drugs under an agreement signed today by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the pharmaceutical company, Novartis.

Novartis will donate the medicine to the Global Drug Facility, hosted by WHO and operated by the Stop TB Partnership. The facility has supplied procurement support and medicines to 2.8 million TB patients in 65 countries since its launch. The drugs will be provided over a five-year- period to nations scaling up TB control with support from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.