TI   "TB and the Budget at AID"
 AU   Dunlap, David W.
 SO   Washington Post (12/29/93) P. A18
 AB   Earlier in the year, the World Health Organization asked the United
      States to contribute to an international effort to combat the spread
      of tuberculosis in developing countries.  Last week, the health
      office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), citing
      the budget environment, declined to offer its $3-million share.  The
      decision, say the editors of the Washington Post, is one that AID
      Administrator Brian Atwood should reconsider.  The number of
      fatalities from AIDS and malaria, combined with other infectious
      diseases, still do not reach the number of adults who reportedly die
      each year from TB, cites the Post.  As "the world's most neglected
      health crisis" by WHO standards, TB, left unchecked, will wipe out 30
      million lives in the next ten years.  It is most prominent in the
      Third World, but is sweeping Europe and America as well.  Old
      environmental factors in the United States, such as crowded,
      unsanitary conditions, added to new ones like HIV, drug abuse, and
      homelessness, all add to the TB rebound.  AID staff insist that TB
      already benefits from other programs, including a $35-million grant
      to WHO's AIDS-HIV program.  That, however, declare the Post editors,
      does not alter the fact that a $3-million contribution from the
      United States, combined with the donations from other rich nations,
      is a necessary and inexpensive way to save many lives in developing
      countries.

      Copyright (c) 1993 - Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD.  This
      information is provided by the Centers for Disease Control &
      Prevention (CDC), National AIDS Clearinghouse as a public service. 
      Non-profit reproduction is encouraged.

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