Africa: WHO to scale up measures to fight TB and HIV infections

The World Health Organisation said last Wednesday it planned to boost programmes aimed at curbing the growing pandemic of tuberculosis and HIV co-infections, with the main focus being in Africa, where 70 percent of the world's 14 million people who are co-infected live. "Tuberculosis (TB) is perhaps the greatest and most deadly opportunistic infection associated with AIDS," said Dr. Peter Piot, executive directions of the UNAIDS programme. "By tackling TB and HIV together, we can have a significant impact on improving the quality of life of people infected with HIV, while also controlling TB and preventing new infections."