MIN/Sp/AU/CAMH3/6 TB Page 5 Resource mobilization It is not feasible to accurately determine levels of national financing for TB Control as TB funding is not earmarked within the general primary health care services. It is however evident that only two countries have attained the 15% allocation of national budgets to health as pledged in the 2001 Abuja declaration. At the same time, external funding for TB control activities has increased significantly. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) has been the single most important source of additional funding for TB control. Approximately 953 million USD (37% of total approved GFATM grants) has been approved for TB Control in the region from 2002-2007. However, the increased flow has not been marched by timely spending and increased case detection and treatment success rates in the majority of countries. Countries under emergency situations face extra challenges. Conclusions Tuberculosis control in Africa has progressed in the last decade but the continent still lags behind on major TB Control targets. Financial resources, traditionally a bottleneck for NTPs till the 2000’s, 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. 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: through implementation of initiatives to reduce preventable unfavourable treatment outcomes such as patient default, transfer out and HIV/AIDS related TB deaths • Increase case detection rates: through development and strengthening of laboratory infrastructure, public private partnerships in the delivery of TB services and expanded institutional and community DOTS services. • Detect, treat and prevent Drug resistant TB: through surveillance, development of culture and DST capability for first line anti-TB drugs, and programmatic management of drug resistant TB cases as part of routine NTP activities • Scale up TB/HIV collaborative activities: especially HIV testing among TB patients, Co-trimoxazole and other preventive therapy, and ART for eligible dually infected persons