Today, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green announced a new business model to support the fight to end the world's number-one infectious killer, tuberculosis (TB). Through $30 million in funding and a new performance-based Global Accelerator to End TB, USAID will catalyze investments to meet the target set by the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB of treating 40 million people with the disease by 2022.

The Accelerator will increase support to governments and local partners as part of a multisectoral approach to ending TB. This new business model includes the following:

• A performance-based measurement system to ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars achieve results: USAID initiated the first award of the Accelerator to the University of North Carolina, for $35 million, to assist in the development of these measurements; and
• A new emphasis on funding networks of local organizations to create local solutions to fight this global disease:
  • The Accelerator will provide direct financial and technical support from USAID to nearly 50 local entities in countries with high burdens of TB -- including many faith-based organizations -- to tackle issues such as stigma.

USAID is also committing up to $30 million, subject to the approval of Congress, to strengthen our partnerships in India and support the efforts of Prime Minister Modi to end TB. In addition, the Administrator also announced the establishment of a USAID-India End TB Alliance, comprised of leading experts in the public and private sectors who will offer advice on how to accelerate innovative approaches to combat TB in India. Members of the Alliance include industry and civil-society leaders, academics, scientists, innovators, investors, and representatives of the diaspora community charged with helping to inform USAID and the Government of India as they redesign their long-time partnership to the Prime Minister's pledge to achieve a TB-Free India by 2025.

Today's announcements underscore the U.S. Government's enduring commitment to doing its part in the fight to end this terrible disease, while helping partners build self-reliance. USAID has been a leader in the global fight against TB for over two decades, and funds anti-TB efforts in more than 50 countries. Since 2000, TB-related deaths have declined by nearly 50 percent, and wider access to diagnosis and treatment has saved over 54 million lives. USAID has helped provide TB treatment to 13 million people globally, including over 300,000 people who were suffering from multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB)-the most difficult form of the disease to treat.