Assembly/AU/4(XI) Page 10 • • Member States are urged to monitor implementation and submit reports regularly. Partners at national, regional and international level should sustain their technical and financial support as well as advocacy SUMMARY STATUS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF TUBERCULOSIS STRATEGIES Tuberculosis control in Africa has progressed in the last decade but the continent still lags behind on major TB Control targets. Estimated TB prevalence, incidence and death rates all continue to increase in most countries. Notification rates have risen from 82 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 160 in 2006. Despite an apparent stabilization and decline in overall TB cases globally and in the African Region, at this rate, the MDG targets for TB incidence and prevalence are unlikely to be achieved at regional level. In Eastern Mediterranean Region, incidence rates are higher for Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan than in the other countries in northern Africa. Political leadership has been demonstrated through the commitments of African Leaders and the declaration of TB as national emergencies by at least 18 countries in the African Region. Financial resources, traditionally a bottleneck for NTPs till the 2000s, is no longer a major factor as GFATM grants, GDF grants (for standard TB treatment), GLC support (for drug resistant TB), bilateral donors support and several Partnership mechanisms provide technical and financial assistance to cover most needs. Drug resistant TB, especially multi-drug resistant TB, is widely prevalent than previously known and poses a serious challenge. Twenty-six countries from the region reported a total of 8,624 multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases during 2007 while four countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa (99.1% of the cases)) reported a total of 541 Extensively Drug Resistant TB cases (XDR-TB) during the same period. In terms of capability to diagnose MDR TB, there were still 10 Member States without this capability by the end of 2007. Of the 26 countries that reported at least a case of MDR or XDR-TB during 2007, only 17 countries (65.4%) have an organized treatment programme for these cases. Despite the availability of a Stop TB Partnership global facility for accessing concessionary priced second line drugs by DOTS based TB Control programmes, only 9 countries had successfully applied to this facility by February 2008. In order to achieve Universal Access by 2010 and the MDG targets by 2015, much remains to be done, especially to: • Increase treatment success rate for smear positive TB cases • Increase case detection rates • Detect, treat and prevent Drug resistant TB