250,000 patients to benefit from free access to short-course TB prevention treatment across seven countries

“The JHU-India partnership is proud to be a member of the IMPAACT4TB consortium. This is a continuation of our decades-long collaboration in improving health outcomes globally,” said Dr. Amita Gupta of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University and a co-investigator of the Pune, India site for IMPAACT4TB. “Current forms of TB prevention are time consuming and have a high rate of discontinuation. Being able to provide a staggering 250,000 patients with free, shortened, preventive treatment will go a very long way in helping to achieve India’s goal of TB elimination.”

The Unitaid-funded IMPAACT4TB Consortium, led by the Aurum Institute, announced today that it will provide 250,000 patient courses of short course rifapentine-based preventive treatment regimens to seven countries to help prevent tuberculosis (TB). The patient courses will include the three-month 3HP regimen, and the even shorter 1HP, that is only taken for 28 days. This contribution is part of the Consortium’s ongoing efforts to end TB and improve global health outcomes. 

The seven countries set to benefit from this initiative are Brazil, Haiti, India, the Maldives, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia. This supply of rifapentine-based preventive treatment regimens is expected to contribute significantly to the global effort to reduce the incidence of TB, which continues to be a major public health challenge worldwide.