Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Milton House in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, is today notably known for its magnificent Art Nouveau architecture. But when built in 1901 it was a private hospital, equipped with a free X-ray service provided by the federal government to assist in the fight for the elimination of tuberculosis. On Saturday, March 24, World Tuberculosis Day was commemorated, and the theme of this year's World Tuberculosis Day is 'Wanted: leaders for a TB-free world'. This will of course allow for a focus on building an international commitment to end TB.

Almost 100 years after Milton House was built in 1901, tuberculosis is still an issue in Australia—not so much in our own country, but it certainly is a major health concern for us internationally. So I want to thank the member for Leichhardt for raising this very important issue, and I'm very pleased to be speaking to it. This year, 2018, marks the beginning of this commitment to world leadership—so much so that in September the heads of state who will gather in New York at the United Nations will do so to conduct the first ever high-level meeting on tuberculosis. The aim is to fast-track the international community's efforts to end tuberculosis.

In 2016 TB was one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, causing some 1.8 million deaths, including 0.5 million people with associated HIV complications. It is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. There were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide in 2016, of which 1,500 were in Australia, just 29 of which included an HIV-positive diagnosis and 53 of which involved multidrug-resistant TB.

In 2016, 1.67 million people died from TB, and, of those, 48 were Australian. So we can compare our efforts, in not having to deal with high levels of TB, with those of the rest of the world. One area in particular—the countries in our neighbourhood, such as India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan—accounts for 56 per cent of people living with TB. Although TB is curable and preventable, it is transmitted very easily, so it's very important that we all work together—the developing world, the developed world and the international community—in order to stem the possible spread of TB and ensure that everyone globally has access to treatment. Thirty countries are assessed as having a high TB burden by the World Health Organization. These account for 80 per cent of all TB cases, Of these countries, our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, had the fifth lowest success rate for treatment. The WHO also reports that, in 2016, PNG had the seventh highest incidence of TB per 100,000 in population.

From 2006 to 2017, happily, the funding levels for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment have doubled from US$3.3 billion to US$6.9 billion. Many high-TB-burdened countries rely heavily on international sources of funding in order to manage TB in their countries. Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh rely heavily on global funding to meet more than 70 per cent of their strategies for ending TB.

Funding provided by Australia for PNG in the health program specifically includes up to $609.1 million over the period 2012 to 2018. And, according to DFAT, the program provides funding to partners working in various areas, including the detection, diagnosis and treatment of TB. In 2016, the Australian government recommitted to continue its aid contribution to PNG in order to tackle TB. The Torres Strait Cross Border Health Issues Committee meeting in April 2017, of which Australia was a part, identified several remaining challenges for ending TB in our region. These were lack of human resources; poor understanding and implementation of the basic principles of the treatment short course; and a weak laboratory capacity in Papua New Guinea. Our efforts in our region are commendable. They need to continue until such time as the world is free of TB.

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