Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Not about this, though, my good friend from Riverina. An estimated nine million new active cases develop each year, as I mentioned. At any given moment, more than 13 million people around the world are suffering from an active infection, and we know that there are many more millions with inactive, latent TB. As I also said, it is the third leading cause of death for women of reproductive age, from age 15 to 44, worldwide. In 2008, for example, 3.6 million women developed TB and approximately another 500,000 died as a result. Again, the sad thing is that it is preventable and we can do something about it, but we just do not do enough.

Despite enormous advances in the provision of services in recent years—and there have been—TB’s deadly synergy with HIV-AIDS and a surge in drug-resistant strains are threatening to destabilise gains in TB control. From my research, I understand that if you do not take the full suite of drugs and remedies that you are prescribed, if you miss any, then it is too late; it becomes worse. I note my good friend Dr Washer, who knows a lot more about this than I do, is agreeing. So not only must we have the proper medicines and the proper diagnostic tools on the job and in situ but also the treatment has to be carried out totally and comprehensively. Again, that is the great challenge that faces us.

While the incidence of TB is stable or falling in many regions of the world, global rates of new infections are still rising in many endemic areas where TB goes hand-in-hand with HIV-AIDS and the effects of poverty. There they are together, the triangle of poverty, disease and suffering. And, of course, without tackling health, which is concomitant with poverty, that leads unfortunately to very serious economic, social and political consequences, which we all know about. There are dreadful instances of communities suffering because there is no peace; where there is no peace, it is difficult to provide health care; without that health care, the poverty continues; and so the cycle goes on.

TB, I understand, will rob the world’s poorest countries of an estimated $1 trillion to $3 trillion over the next decade. So, apart from the purely individual health, and social and political problems, there are economic implications. These are the terrible consequences of not being able to tackle TB. In some countries, lost productivity attributable to TB approaches seven per cent of gross domestic product—seven per cent.

I understand that there is a new test that can accurately diagnose tuberculosis in people within 90 minutes, compared to the six weeks needed for the current standard test—90 minutes compared to six weeks. It is called the Xpert MTB/RIF test, and I do not pretend to understand enough about it, but it can identify TB in 98 per cent of active cases. That is an improvement of more than 45 per cent on one of the current most commonly used techniques. It also, I understand, detects whether the TB-causing bacteria are resistant to rifampicin, a first-line drug for TB in 98 per cent of cases. According to Richard Chaisson, Director of the John Hopkins Centre for Tuberculosis Research in Baltimore, Maryland, who was not involved in the work:

It has the potential to be revolutionary …

So, on 24 March, I will join with all my colleagues in this place to remember World Tuberculosis Day and to do our part to ensure that we help tackle this preventable disease. Thank you.

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