FOR A CAUSE: U.S. Ambassador David C. Mulford (left) with WHO representative to India Salim Habayeb after signing an agreement on tackling tuberculosis, in New Delhi on Tuesday. — Photo: AP

NEW DELHI: The United States Ambassador, David C. Mulford, and World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to India, Salim Habayeb, on Tuesday signed an agreement for tuberculosis control in India.

The U.S. will give the WHO Rs. 19 crore ($ 4.17 million) for research and State-level implementation of the disease control programme. "Our government supports tuberculosis control in India because of the enormous public health impact and economic burden of the disease," Mr. Mulford said.

The money would be used in Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) application in Haryana in drug procurement and also in furthering research at the TB Research Centre in Chennai.

According to the latest Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) report, "Tuberculosis: Burden of the disease in India," by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, two of every five Indians are infected with the TB bacillus. Of them, 10 per cent develop TB disease during their lifetime.

Every day, about 5,000 people develop the disease and around 1,000 die.

Every year, almost 1.8 million new cases occur in the country, of which almost half are infectious, it says.

Highlighting the U.S.-India cooperation on medical research, Mr. Mulford said: "The U.S. President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have agreed to expand joint efforts in the area of science and technology, including medical research, to address issues of global concern, such as infectious disease control."

The joint agreement emphasises the sustained commitment of the U.S. for International Development (USAID) to provide financial and technical support to the WHO for strengthening the RNTCP.

The U.S. had invested Rs. 183 crore in the fight against TB in India since 1998.

The Ambassador said TB killed more adults in the most productive age group (15-24 years) than any other infectious disease.

The economic cost of the disease was $ 3 billion.

The USAID and the WHO had achieved significant progress over the past 10 years in preventing and controlling TB and other major diseases, such as polio, malaria and avian influenza.

The USAID investment of Rs. 256 crore for these activities had helped build and strengthen the capacities of the local institutions and leveraged resources from other development partners.

TB is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among the adult population in India.

India has more cases of tuberculosis than any other country in the world and twice as many as China, the next highest.

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