Leading UK Academics Call on UK Prime Minister to Prioritise Fight Against TB
Written by Pally Khan, March 24th, 2018
Our group is marking World TB Day 2018 by collectively publishing a letter to the UK government, urging more action on TB.
The letter, with its full list of signatories, is below.
Today is World Tuberculosis Day. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease, affecting over 10 million people a year and killing 1.7 million – more than HIV and malaria combined. The UK continues to have one of the highest rates of TB in Europe, while increasing drug-resistance is a threat to global health security.
The UK can be congratulated on its leadership, both on the Antimicrobial Resistance agenda and for its £1 billion replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and TB, making us the world’s second largest donor.
Yet current global efforts remain catastrophically insufficient. Three years ago, the world’s leaders pledged to end TB by 2030 – yet at the current rate of progress, this Sustainable Development Goal will not be met for more than a century. There is a worrying shortfall in research and development spending, with no effective adult vaccine.
In September a UN High Level Meeting on TB is set to take place at the General Assembly in New York. Consistent with her vision for a Global Britain, we urge the Prime Minister to attend in person, to throw the UK’s weight behind greater investment in both applied health research and product development, and to commit to more effective action with fellow leaders, so that at last this terrible disease can be beaten.
Professor Baron Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Janet Hemingway, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Professor Sir Ali Zumla, University College London
Professor Guy Thwaites, University of Oxford
Professor Stephen Gillespie, University of St Andrews
Dr Wilber Sabiiti, University of St Andrews
Professor Katherine Fielding, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr Rebecca Harris, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Alison Grant, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Helen Ayles, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Richard White, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr Helen Fletcher, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr Mishal Khan, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Lisa Stockdale, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Hazel Dockrell, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Dave Moore, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Liz Corbett, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Luis Cuevas, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Dr Tom Wingfield, University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Dr Marc Lipman, University College London
Professor Robert Miller, University College London
Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, University College London
Professor Tim McHugh, University College London
Professor Nigel Klein, University College London
Dr David Lowe, University College London
Professor Anthony Harries, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Mike Mandelbaum, TB Alert
Amy McConville, TB Action Group
Stacey Farrow, TB Nurse Specialist, Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Susan Humphrey, TB Nurse Specialist, Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Helen Ogden, TB Nurse Specialist, Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Karen Hobson, TB Nurse Specialist, Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Jillian Reid, TB Nurse Specialist, Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Melissa Keating, TB Nurse Specialist, Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Kellie Jacobs, Respiratory Nurse Specialist – TB, Royal Bolton Hospital
Ryan Noonan, Respiratory Nurse Specialist – TB Lead, Royal Bolton Hospital
Susan Duthie, Lead TB Specialist Nurse, HS Grampian
Jeniffer Mithoo, TB Nurse Specialist, University of Liverpool
Lesley Brogelli, Senior TB Nurse Specialist, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Dawn Hamer, TB Nurse Specialist, Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Trust
Mairi Black, TB Nurse Specialist for Cumbria NHS Trust
Dr Predrag Duric, Queen Margaret University Edinburgh
Professor Sophie, Witter Queen Margaret University Edinburgh
Dr Estée Török, University of Cambridge
Professor James Newell, University of Leeds
Professor John Walley, University of Leeds, Nuffield Centre for International Health
Professor Carlton A. Evans, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare Trust
Professor Onn Min Kon, Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare Trust
Professor Anthony Coates, St George’s, University of London
Professor Michael Barer, University of Leicester
Dr Gerrit Woltmann, University of Leicester
Dr Manish Pareek, University of Leicester
Dr Pranab Haldar, University of Leicester
Professor Andrea Cooper, University of Leicester
Dr Martin Dedicoat, Heart of England Foundation Trust
Dr Heinke Kunst, Queen Mary University
Aaron Oxley, RESULTS UK
Dr Simon Tiberi, Queen Mary University
