KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation is one of the implementing partners of the LIFT-TB initiative of TB Alliance, funded by the Republic of Korea. LIFT-TB (Leveraging Innovation for Faster Treatment of Tuberculosis) aims to broaden adoption and scale up of improved tuberculosis (TB) treatment regimens. The initiative will also seek to increase treatment completion rates for drug-resistant forms of TB in some of the countries most affected by this form of TB across the Southeast and Central Asian regions.
The five-year project entails a combined commitment of about US$10.5 million by TB Alliance and the Republic of Korea, through the Global Disease Eradication Fund (GDEF), across the seven target countries: The Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine . Among other goals, the project will support early commencement of operations research for the six-month, all-oral, three-drug BPaL regimen, being planned by participating countries, consistent with current WHO recommendations. The International TB Research Center from Korea also is a partner on this project.
“KNCV applauds this Republic of Korea -TB Alliance initiative”, says Agnes Gebhard, technical director of KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation. “We look forward to working with the TB Alliance, ITRC and other stakeholders on enabling patient access to improved TB treatment regimens. These fully oral shorter regimens not only bring hope and cure for patients, but will also facilitate the delivery of care by individual health professionals and an effective response of health systems to overcome drug resistant TB. KNCV will now apply its earlier experience in introducing new drugs and regimens to the introduction of BPaL under appropriate conditions, including the generation of evidence in operational research to inform wider application and scale-up. These new treatments can save many lives – no time to waste!”
READ MORE about KNCV’s BPaL projects and developments.
READ MORE: LIFT-TB announcement by TB Alliance.
Picture credit: Tristan Bayly