Tuberculosis (TB), which in 2016 killed an estimated 1.7 million people, is an ancient disease found in the bones of mummies dug up from Peru. It has evolved with humans, and like other successful organisms, finds ways to avoid death, so it can thrive and spread to the next person. Trying to get ahead of this successful adversary requires pursuing a consistent, aggressive research agenda aided by international collaboration.
Strong leadership advocating for TB research, like the leadership offered by our teams at FHI 360, is making it possible for the hardest hit regions of the world to do the kind of research that will have a major impact locally – and globally. In this blog post, I will describe two of our major TB research endeavors, recently highlighted during the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Guadalajara, Mexico, that focus on the importance and promise of coordinated, collaborative research efforts in high-burden countries.
