While TB remains a significant threat to global health, we’re witnessing a committed global response and motivation to increase funding for research and development following 2018’s UN High-Level Meeting on TB.

In our two briefs, Closing the Gap in Tuberculosis Research and Development Funding: Actions for U.S. Government Executive Agencies and Actions for U.S. Congress, we detail how a funding increase of 0.1 percent, based on “fair share” of research capacity, would close the funding gap in TB R&D, catalyze new public health tools we need to create positive health outcomes among communities vulnerable to TB worldwide.

Both briefs illustrate examples of how publicly-funded U.S. agencies are positioned to contribute significantly to TB R&D with just a small boost in current investments, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which plays a fundamental role in basic sciences research for TB; USAID, which supports clinical trial work; and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where prevention research has led to treatment breakthroughs with global implications. Boosted funding also creates opportunities for agencies like Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to step up and play a vital role in later stage product development, such as vaccines and treatments. Together, the U.S government and its agencies represents a global leader in TB R&D and important research engine to upend the world’s leading infectious killer.