The United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24 hosted a meeting focused on wiping out tuberculosis by 2030, according to NPR.
The cure to TB has been widely accessible since the 1950's, yet TB is still one of the top infectious diseases on the planet, killing about 1.5 million people every year.
"We've had a failure of imagination," Paul Farmer, MD, physician at Boston-based Harvard Medical School and founder of the nonprofit Partners In Health, told NPR. "We haven't had the same optimism, commitment and high ambitious goals around TB that we've seen around HIV. And what's the downside of setting high goals? I think it's very limited."
TB hits some of the world’s poorest populations, who can’t afford treatment. In response, world leaders aim to treat 40 million people over the next five years. Only about 54 million people have been treated since 2000. They also pledged to provide TB prevention treatments to 30 million people who are at risk.