Good afternoon to all of you,

We have just left a century of extraordinary progress in health, and much of this progress is the fruits of science. Yet, we also carry over a legacy of unsolved problems, and tuberculosis is ranging among the most serious and devastating.

Still, One third of the world’s population is currently infected with TB. 8 million people develop active tuberculosis every year and the disease takes the lives of 5,000 people a day. Over the next 20 years, 40 million people could die of TB unless treatment is made more accessible and more effective.

Part of the TB explosion is due to its collision with the HIV epidemic. In Africa HIV infects 40 percent of the patients with TB and it is TB that kills a third of the victims of AIDS.

Weak health systems and inappropriate drug treatment have led to the emergence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), threatening global efforts to fight the disease.

TB is not just a threat in developing nations -- no continent is immune.

TB is a disease of poverty that prevents millions of people from breaking free of socio-economic barriers. Together with malaria and HIV/AIDS, it makes up a trio of infectious diseases WHERE THE effects on developing countries are so damaging that they seriously impede economic and social development.

In 1995 WHO and its partners developed the DOTS strategy, a comprehensive way of delivering TB treatment for all patients to ensure completion of the full course needed.

WHO’s DOTS strategy is the mainstay of global control efforts and when properly implemented can cure over 90% of patients.

However, drugs that require a treatment duration of at least 6 months constrain the effectiveness of DOTS. Although after a decade of effort, patients receiving full and effective treatment have risen from 1% to 25%, the rate of cure would be greatly accelerated by better drugs.

An effective vaccine is not expected to have an impact on the developing world for 20 years.

A better TB treatment could save the lives of 50 million people in the next 20 years.

No new class of drugs for TB has been developed in over 30 years. We need new anti-TB drugs to be able to:

This is the right time to act.

There has been an explosion of scientific knowledge and biotechnology, for example the sequencing of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome.

The G8 and many of its individual partners have announced new and major commitments to help fight TB.

Philanthropic organizations and individuals have recognized the need for action and are joining the global effort against TB.

Markets for TB drugs have been growing during the last decade and the pharmaceutical industry is reassessing old estimates and new approaches to collaboration with the public sector.

The Global Alliance for Anti-TB Drug Development which is being launched here today is a shining example of public and private sector partnerships to bridge the gap between market opportunities and people’s needs.

It could not have been achieved without the generous financial contribution by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and drive and financial commitment made by the Rockefeller Foundation. For this, we are truly grateful.

We owe it to the populations that suffer from TB to improve the quality and efficacy of drugs. In this context, GADD is much more than a scientific venture: it is a direct attack on poverty and the disparities between rich and poor.

It is also a contribution to economic development. Healthy people are more able to work themselves out of poverty and to generate the activities that promote the human and economic development that ultimately will enrich us all.