BANGKOK, Thailand, 15 July 2004 – The Treatment Action Group (TAG) announced today at the XV International AIDS Conference the establishment of the TB/HIV Project. The Project will work to combat TB/HIV co-infection through a combination of community-based advocacy, education and mobilization efforts involving AIDS advocates in developed and developing countries. The TB/HIV Project is supported by a two-year, $979,138 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. HIV and TB are the world's two most serious infectious diseases. HIV/AIDS kills an estimated three million people annually, and TB kills approximately two million people every year. Among co-infected people, HIV increases the risk of developing active TB disease 36-fold, while TB co-infection correspondingly accelerates HIV progression. TB is now the leading killer of people living with HIV.

"The TB/HIV Project will help community groups strengthen demand for services that fight both TB and HIV," said TAG Executive Director Mark Harrington. "All people with HIV need access to effective TB prevention and treatment. TB programs can also serve as entry points for HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment." From a public health standpoint, the spreading HIV pandemic prevents the achievement of global TB control goals, and growing TB rates hamper global AIDS efforts.. The World Health Organization estimates that 11 million of the world's 42 million HIV-infected persons are co-infected with TB, 71% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, while TB is preventable, treatable, and curable among both HIV-infected and uninfected people, 70% of HIV-infected Africans lack access to the global standard of care for TB disease, directly-observed therapy short-course, or DOTS.

"We can't effectively fight HIV/AIDS without also fighting TB. Groups involved in HIV/AIDS community education and mobilization are a critical untapped resource in the fight against TB/HIV co-infection," said Helene Gayle, M.D., M.P.H., director of the HIV, TB, and Reproductive Health program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "These organizations have played a major role in increasing political support and resources for fighting the global AIDS epidemic. Engaging them in the fight against the joint TB-HIV epidemic will help millions of people who suffer from both diseases."

The TB/HIV Project will educate advocates and community organizations about TB/HIV, and develop strategies for expanding efforts to fight the two epidemics. The project will convene an annual global TB/HIV advocacy workshop, as well as satellite meetings at existing TB and HIVconferences. The project will also produce a research and policy strategy, educational materials on TB/HIV for community-based leaders and organizations, and resource mobilization proposals developed in collaboration with community groups and NGOs from high-burden countries to fund in-country TB/HIV education and advocacy efforts.

Additional funds will be made available by the Open Society Institute (OSI) Public Health Program to support community-based TB/HIV advocacy activities in countries affected by TB/HIV coinfection. "This will help us put programs on the ground where they are most needed," said OSI Senior Fellow Nina Schwalbe.

The TB/HIV Project is based on discussions with a wide range of community groups, technical agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), donors, and people involved in AIDS and TB control programs. The project will build on recent workshops sponsored by TAG. In 2002 and, with support from the Gates Foundation, in 2003, TAG sponsored the First and Second International TB/HIV Coinfection Community Education & Mobilization Workshops at the 33rd and 34th World Conferences on Lung Health. More than 100 advocates from countries around the world participated in the workshops and endorsed the proposal to move forward with the creation of a TB/HIV project to catalyze more effective activities focused on TB/HIV coinfection among community-based AIDS organizations.

The Treatment Action Group (TAG) (treatmentactiongroup.org) was founded in 1992 and is based in New York City. TAG fights to find a cure for AIDS and to ensure that all people living with HIV receive the necessary treatment, care and information they need to save their lives. TAG focuses on the AIDS research effort, both public and private, the drug development process, and the U.S. and global health care delivery systems. TAG meets with researchers, industry, government officials, global public health experts and advocates from AIDS organizations around the world to ensure broader, faster access to good AIDS research and effective treatment programs. TAG is committed to working for and with all communities affected by HIV. TAG is a tax-exempt non-profit 501(c)3 organization.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) (www.soros.org), a private operating and grantmaking foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. The OSI Public Health Programs support initiatives that encourage sustainable change in public health policy and practice.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (www.gatesfoundation.org) works to promote greater equity in four areas: global health, education, public libraries, and support for at-risk families in Washington state and Oregon. The Seattle-based foundation joins local, national, and international partners to ensure that advances in these areas reach those who need them most. The foundation is led by Bill Gates's father, William H. Gates, Sr., and Patty Stonesifer.