Ending communicable diseases requires a combined elimination framework

At three high level meetings of the United Nations General Assembly this week, world leaders will re-commit to ending tuberculosis (TB), delivering universal health coverage, and strengthening prevention, preparedness, and response to pandemics. The meetings come at a time when most health related targets of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are off track1 to meet the 2030 deadline. These include SDG 3.3, which commits to ending the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases, and tackling hepatitis, waterborne diseases, and other communicable diseases.2 At this juncture the targets can only be met on time by adopting a fundamentally different, combined approach to disease elimination.The South East Asia region has the highest incidence of TB in the world. Current incidence would need to be reduced 80% from the baseline,34 and HIV 90% from baseline56 to meet the 2030 targets—these are both unlikely to be met.78 Similarly, elimination of age…
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