Singapore: In a bid to eradicate the menace of TB, The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has announced funding support to the TB Alliance, a not-for-profit organization. The grant was announced at a World TB Day event in Canberra and aims to support the development of new drugs and tools for TB research.

Ms Julie Bishop, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, said, "Drug-resistant TB and malaria pose a threat to health security in our region and carry a high burden for our Asia-Pacific neighbors. More than half of the global TB cases (56%) occur in the region."

As per the WHO estimates, TB kills nearly 1.5 million people each year. Eight countries near Australia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) are among the 22 high-burden countries designated as focus countries by the WHO.

"We are extremely appreciative of the grant from DFAT, which will help advance life-saving drugs for tuberculosis," said Mr Mel Spigelman, MD, President and CEO of TB Alliance. "This support will help accelerate bringing much needed treatments to people in need and facilitate governments' ability to cost-effectively scale up TB treatment, especially that of drug resistant TB."