HIV/AIDS and TB

Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned that tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most serious health hazards in the world, especially in nations with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. His remarks were made in a statement in Geneva on Tuesday marking World Tuberculosis Day. “People with HIV/AIDS are 30 to 50 times more likely than those without HIV infection to develop TB,” Piot said. “Co-infection with TB and HIV is the leading killer of people with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of AIDS-related deaths are now occurring.” Piot said, however, that TB could be cured, even in HIV-infected people, if diagnosed in time and properly treated. He said there had been successful TB control in places where community health programmes serving large numbers of HIV-infected people had integrated TB diagnosis and treatment with their services. “The spread of TB can be further reduced if TB programmes provide access to voluntary HIV testing and counselling,” he said. “UNAIDS joins WHO to call for increased commitment from governments and donors in the fight against the dual epidemics of TB and HIV/AIDS.”