Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is World TB Day where we raise awareness of tuberculosis and its incidence throughout the world. Last year 8.6 million cases of tuberculosis were diagnosed throughout the world—1.3 million of those cases resulted in the patient dying.

Unfortunately, poor countries have a greater chance and risk of affliction, and women have a greater chance of contracting TB. But the most alarming statistic regarding TB is the fact that almost a quarter of those reported cases are right here in our backyard, in the Pacific. Australia as a wealthy nation must do more to promote awareness of tuberculosis in our region but also to invest in better treatment, and better research and development for new drugs, particularly for the drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis.

I want to thank the Burnet Institute, RESULTS Australia, the TB Alliance and the Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control for the wonderful event that they hosted this morning at Parliament House, highlighting the importance of ongoing research in and development of drug-resistant strains of TB.