With equal access to science and technology as one of the themes of the recently passed International Women's Day, it is important to acknowledge the role new tools to treat tuberculosis can play in improving the lives of millions of women throughout the world. Each year, throughout the world more than 3.5 million women develop active tuberculosis, 700,000 of whom die. TB is the third leading cause of death among women aged 15-44 and each year millions of children lose their mothers to the disease. Pregnant women and women of reproductive age are particularly vulnerable to contracting and developing tuberculosis. Further, in some regions around the world, women who become ill with TB are acutely stigmatized, ostracized, and discriminated against by their communities or families.
Tuberculosis, including drug-resistant TB, is a health crisis of global proportions and new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics are urgently needed to help reverse its spread. The tools currently in use are antiquated and profoundly flawed. For the millions of women who are the direct and indirect victims of TB and drug-resistant TB, the access to new science and technology to prevent, diagnose, and treat TB can be life-saving. But, without the support of public and private donors alike, the development of such technologies can be stifled.
Supporting the global effort to develop new and improved TB drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics is one of the many ways to help improve the health of women all around the world, thus significantly contributing to their empowerment — and even more directly, their ability to empower themselves.