Doctors Without Borders Launches Multimedia Web Site And Special Report On Tuberculosis

Main Category: Tuberculosis
Also Included In: Respiratory / Asthma;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 25 Mar 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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On the occasion of World TB Day, today, March 24, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has launched a multimedia web site and special report on tuberculosis, calling for a drastic increase in the research and development of effective diagnostic tools and medicines for this neglected disease.

The web site, "I want a test for TB that works for me," features video testimonials of individual TB patients in Kenya, India, and Georgia.

The special report, "Better Tests Needed for TB," urgently advocates for better diagnostic tools and research for tuberculosis, a curable disease contracted by 9 million people every year, and which killed 1.7 million people in 2006, more than four people a minute. The current diagnostic tool, developed over a century ago, is largely unreliable. A new testing method for TB that gives fast and accurate results, is simple to use, and allows people to get the treatment they need in time, is needed now.

To help bring attention to this curable disease, still largely regarded as a disease of the past, please link to the website and special report, and embed the video testimonials in your site or blog.

MSF is treating people with TB in 31 countries in a wide variety of settings, ranging from urban slums to rural areas, prisons to refugee camps.

Source
Emily Linendoll
Press Officer
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
333 Seventh Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: +1 212.763.5764
Cell: +1 646.206.9387
Fax: +1 212.679.7016
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

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