5 October 2006

Dear UNITAID Board Member,

We write to express our strong support for UNITAID and its mission to provide a new, innovative funding mechanism for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria drugs. We specifically applaud UNITAID's inclusion of both paediatric TB drug formulations and second-line drugs to treat multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Such an initiative will greatly expand access to treatment for these deadly yet overlooked and under-resourced forms of TB.

UNITAID's contribution to the global fight against TB is critical and timely. Despite being curable, 9 million people become sick with and nearly 2 million people die from TB each year. Ninety-five percent of those affected by TB live in developing countries, and the disease is rapidly escalating in Africa. The Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015 projects that worldwide financing for the expansion of TB treatment, based on funding available in 2005, will require an additional US$25 billion from endemic countries and external donors over the next decade. UNITAID s innovative financing scheme will generate vital new resources for TB over the long term, expand access to treatment, and support countries long-term planning in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals.

UNITAID's focus on paediatric and second-line drug formulations will fill a crucial niche and will support national TB programs to expand the scope of their treatment services. The Global Plan states that dramatic, global expansion of MDR-TB treatment should be a priority over the next decade, as WHO estimates that over 400,000 new cases of MDR-TB emerge every year but less than 2 percent of the total number of estimated culture-positive MDR-TB patients are treated properly. The discovery of extremely drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) in South Africa and elsewhere, which is highly lethal and strongly linked to HIV, shows the urgency with which drug-resistant TB must be addressed. Expansion of treatment for paediatric TB is also a necessity, as each year 100,000 children die from TB. According to the Global Plan, children with TB are at special risk of being treated outside the auspices of national TB programs and are more likely to receive substandard care. To provide national TB programs with additional supplies of paediatric drug formulations in the short term, and to promote the development of new paediatric formulations over the medium term, will help decrease the global burden of paediatric TB as well as improve the standard of care.

We acknowledge and are grateful for the leadership and creativity demonstrated by the governments of France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the United Kingdom in their spearheading of this vital new financing mechanism to fight the world s most devastating infectious diseases. We also hope that UNITAID s initial successes will quickly bring other countries to the table to improve global health in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals.

Sincerely,