MEP Hall calls for joint action to tackle TB increase in North East

11.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 8th Apr 2009

As European scientists warn that Tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged as a significant problem for the European Union, a North East MEP has called on the European Commission to raise its game tackling the disease.

Worldwide, over nine million people contract TB each year. For 2008, records show nearly 90,000 new TB cases in the EU, over 8,000 of which were diagnosed in the UK. And although the North East continues to have one of the lowest levels of TB incidence in the UK, 198 cases were diagnosed in 2007 - an increase of 38% on the previous year.

"TB continues to be the leading cause of death among curable infectious diseases," said Fiona Hall, Lib Dem Euro-MP, "so it seems only sensible to put forward the case for a national and international coordinated effort to beat the disease.

"One of the key problems is that a growing number of TB strains are now resistant to commonly used antibiotics, so fighting the disease gets more complicated and expensive every year.

"The increase in the number of TB diagnosis in the North East is worrying, and highlights the need for action sooner rather than later.

"A shared EU strategy including better communication between countries, more support for new research and the sharing of best practice could be the first step in combating the disease."

Fiona has signed a Written Declaration in the European Parliament calling on the European Commission and Council to allocate more resources and funding to essential research into new medication and to ensure full access to treatment for people living within the EU.

The full text of the written declaration is shown below.

A written declaration is a text of a maximum of 200 words on a matter falling within the European Union's sphere of activities, which MEPs can use to launch or re-launch a debate. If a declaration is signed by a majority of MEPs, it has to be discussed in plenary.

Written declaration on tuberculosis

The European Parliament,

• having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas tuberculosis (TB) kills up to 2 million people every year, and whereas the WHO

estimates that there were 9.27 million new TB cases in 2007,

B. whereas completing TB treatment (six to eight months for non-drug-resistant cases) is vital, whereas interrupted or incomplete treatment can lead to multi- or extensively drugresistant

tuberculosis (MDR-TB/XDR-TB), where patients are resistant to the most important first- and/or second-line anti-TB medicines, and whereas there are about 500 000 new patients with multi-drug-resistant TB worldwide, including in Europe,

C. whereas TB affects vulnerable groups, such as illegal migrants,

D. whereas a gap exists between the Commission's actual spending on TB research and

development (almost Ђ 20 m in 2007) and the level of spending required (Ђ 100 m),

E. whereas future global TB control can only be achieved by means of better diagnostics, new protective vaccines and more effective treatments,

1. Calls on the Commission and Council to take a leading role in coordinating the control of TB by:

• allocating sufficient resources to R&D by prioritising MDR and XDR-TB within FP7, the Innovative Medicines Initiative and the European Research Council;

• ensuring access to and completion of treatment for illegal migrants;

• insisting that funding be used for diagnostics, vaccines, treatments and rapid, affordable point-of-care TB tests;

• acknowledging the vital role played by health services and health professionals;

2. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council and the Commission.