In trying to fact check the Washington Post article on new lower estimates of HIV rates in Africa I came across a plan to eradicate TB by the folks at the Stop TB Partnership.

What is really interesting is that they place it within the MDG context. As they say in the summary that appears in March 18 edition of Lancet:

"All the MDGs seek to contribute to poverty reduction. The greater the effect on any of them, the greater the effect on poverty will be. The Global Plan to Stop TB will have its greatest direct effect on MDG 6 by combating tuberculosis as one of the "other diseases" mentioned alongside HIV and malaria (figure). By reducing the toll of ill health associated with tuberculosis on the poor, however, and by reducing the health-care costs associated with securing a diagnosis, treatment, and cure, MDG 1 (eradication of poverty) will also be affected. How the Plan might indirectly contribute to achievement of MDGs 3, 4, and 5 is not explicit but would require a clearer focus on the gender related aspects of tuberculosis control."

They do not have all the answers yet, but at least they are finally asking the right question.