Canada must take lead in fighting the spread of TB

More than 4,000 people die every day from an ancient illness that Canada should be leading global efforts to defeat. Tuberculosis, or TB, kills close to 1.7 million people every year. The suffering it causes is devastating for patients and communities, and many of the currently available treatments are themselves painful, overly complex or ineffective.

In Canada, despite successful efforts to reduce its presence, TB has never been eliminated. Today, a TB crisis is taking place in Canada’s Far North, where Inuit communities have a rate of infection 300 times that of non-Indigenous people born elsewhere in Canada. Each new Canadian case adds to a global health emergency.

Now is the time for action. After years of political indifference, the United Nations will host the firstever High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis this month: world leaders will gather in New York on Sept. 26 to discuss how they can close the global gap in access to TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment. We are urging Canada to step up and take the lead.

Domestically, Canada’s government is already responding, and has pledged to eliminate TB in the country’s Far North by 2030. This is a welcome step forward. But without also addressing the larger global challenge, these efforts alone will not be enough.

Here’s why: More than 10 million people around the world contract TB each year. Uncomplicated forms of the disease are treatable, but deadlier and drug-resistant forms of TB are spreading widely.

Most available treatments for drug-resistant TB are old and come with horrible side-effects, including painful injections, nausea, psychosis and permanent deafness. These treatment regimens can also last for up to two years, and require over 15,000 pills and daily injections for months — and even then, the success rate is only around 55 per cent.

Only two new drugs for TB have been registered since 1971 (neither is registered in Canada), and many people living with TB never receive a proper diagnosis because the tools to do so are antiquated or unavailable.

With about 1,600 cases of TB reported by health officials in Canada each year, ending this global epidemic is in our own interests. The UN High Level Meeting on Tu- berculosis is also a tremendous opportunity for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to back up its claims that Canada is a global health and innovation leader.

By committing to find new ways of supporting publicly funded research and development that delivers lifesaving technologies to people who need them — affordably, efficiently and equitably — Canada can match words with action.

But first we need to be at the table. Prime Minister Trudeau himself needs to be present in New York on Sept. 26, and show the world that Canada is serious about stepping up in the fight against TB.

Joe Belliveau is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada. Jason Nickerson is MSF Canada’s Humanitarian Affairs Advisor.