The WHO has finally recognized the need for TB and HIV/AIDS programs to work together. About time, I say. They tend to overlap in patients – TB is the leading cause of death among people with AIDS, and they both require long courses of treatment under medical supervision.

The failure of the Central Asia countries to control tuberculosis also odes ill for their future with HIV/AIDS. Their cure rate for Tuberculosis is abysmal – around 20% when the drugs, used right, can cure in 95% of cases. If they can’t get patients to take their meds for a curable infection, what’s going to happen with AIDS?

Speaking of AIDS, the World Bank just issued an report saying that AIDS is bad and the former soviet union is in big trouble. Well, duh. We all knew that. In Central Asia, anyway, very little is being done about AIDS (although ZdravPlus and PSI are doing their best.) even as the number of cases skyrockets. The FSU and Eastern Europe region as a whole has the fast growing rate of new infections in the world. The consequences are likely to be nothing short of apocalyptic.