Lily to Support International Tuberculosis Programs

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Eli Lilly and company have signed an agreement which will allow an eight-fold increase in the number of International Federation-supported programs to fight multidrug-resistant tuberculosis over the next four years.

Lilly’s $1.6 million contribution will finance programs between 2008 and 2011. In 2008 alone, the International Federation will expand its support to 10 additional MDR-TB programs in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Romania, Georgia, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa, for a total of 14 MDR-TB programs.

The first phase of the International Federation and Lilly MDR-TB Program was implemented from 2004 to 2007 in three pilot countries.

Sidney Taurel, chairman and CEO of Lilly, said: “We will continue to learn lessons from existing programs and improve our initiatives to best serve those suffering from MDR-TB, and to best prevent its spread. We are committed, for the long-term, to triumph over the re-emergence of TB and MDR-TB.”