Singer Craig David says stigma toward TB must end, more funds must be committed

Lucy Chesire, a nutritionist from Eldoret Kenya is HIV positive and she had to have three surgeries and spend seven months in hospital due to TB.

Craig David, Lucy Cherise and Lee Reichman, a leading academic on TB. Rosebell's photo

Only 4.1 percent of people living with HIV worldwide have been screened for Tuberculosis. TB is one of the most neglected diseases despite being in existence for the last 100 years.

Nearly 25 percent of people with HIV eventually die from TB because they are not tested. Also in Uganda most people learn of their HIV status when their TB has gone to late stages.

According to the WHO 2009 Global TB control report of the about one million Ugandans with HIV, only 16,110 had been screened for TB.

Singer Craig David is the UN ambassador for TB, today at the UN Week Digital

Media Lounge he called for increased funding for TB and promotion of educational programs to deal with stigma surrounding TB.

Cherise is a TB advocacy Consultant with Action

Cherise said most people with HIV end up developing drug resistant TB due to low awareness in communities about treatment. She said it takes about USD 25,000 to cure drug resistant TB which many patients can’t afford and they end up dying.

She said many TB patients in Africa must walk many miles a day to get TB injections and also endure over 40 pills a day. Many have lost their jobs because of the lengthy treatment.