The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UNITAID and partners announce new preventive treatment for latent Tuberculosis
A price reduction of 70%, a much shorter treatment and 3 times fewer weekly pills are the advantages of a new preventive treatment for latent Tuberculosis (TB) that UNITAID and its partners have started to roll out a few days ahead of World Tuberculosis Day (24 March).
“UNITAID is happy to inform you about a new treatment at a very important reduced cost”, said Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson for UNITAID. “The new treatment that we want to talk about costs 70 % less than the previous treatments. It is called Rifapentine and by negotiating the new price with the private sector, UNITAID and the UNITAID partners will basically give access to that medicine to more than 100 countries at the price of 15 USD instead of 45 USD”.
The WHO recommends the use of this regimen for treatment of latent TB infection in people living with HIV and contacts of TB cases of any age. Research shows that patients are far more likely to complete shorter treatment courses.
“This treatment started to be rolled out in 5 TB high burden countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mozambique”, said UNITAID’s spokesperson when talking to journalists at the United Nations in Geneva.
People with active TB can infect 10–15 other people through close contact over the course of a year. Without proper treatment, 45% of HIV-negative people with TB and nearly all HIV-positive people with TB will die.
“Despite being preventable and curable, tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious disease in the world killing 1.5 million people each year including more than 250 000 people living with HIV”, informed Mr. Verhoosel.
It is estimated that in 2019 around 10.0 million people fell ill with TB - a number that has been declining very slowly in recent years. 5.7 million are men, 3.2 million women and 1.1 million children. Most of them live in low- and middle-income countries.
“Geographically, South-East Asia represents (44%) of the TB cases followed by Africa with 25% and the Western Pacific with 18%”, said UNITAID’s spokesperson. He added that “eight countries accounted for two thirds of the TB cases in the world: India with 26%, Indonesia with 8.5%, followed by China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa”.
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse recent progress in reducing the global burden of TB disease. Due to disruption in health services, the global number of TB deaths could increase by around 200 000 to 400 000 in 2020 alone, should the number of people with TB could not be treated.
However, despite the pandemic, “UNITAID expects that more than 3 million patients could be treated with that new drug in 2021”, said Mr. Verhoosel.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a sunny day.
- Wide shot, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson UNITAID: “UNITAID is happy to inform you about a new treatment at a very important reduced cost. The new treatment that we want to talk about costs 70 % less than the previous treatments. It is called Rifapentine and by negotiating the new price with the private sector, UNITAID and the UNITAID partners will basically give access to that medicine to more than 100 countries at the price of 15 USD instead of 45 USD”.
- Wide shot, podium with speakers, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson UNITAID: “This treatment started to be rolled out in 5 TB high burden countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mozambique”.
- Wide shot, UNTV camera, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson UNITAID: “Despite being preventable and curable, tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious disease in the world killing 1.5 million people each year including more than 250 000 people living with HIV”.
- Medium shot, journalist with laptop, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson UNITAID: “Geographically, South-East Asia represents (44%) of the TB cases followed by Africa with 25% and the Western Pacific with 18%”.
- Wide shot, press briefing room, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson UNITAID: “Eight countries accounted for two thirds of the TB cases in the world: India with 26%, Indonesia with 8.5%, followed by China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa”.
- Wide shot, journalist in press briefing room, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson UNITAID: “UNITAID expects that more than 3 million patients could be treated with that new drug in 2021”.
- Medium-wide shot, journalist with mask, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- Wide shot, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- Medium shot, journalists in Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | OSES
Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping Syrians’ create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday called on States to do all in their power to end senseless conflicts and suffering.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.