Drug-resistant TB is a growing threat

Cooperation with global development partners – both through aid and technical assistance – will be critical to success. As we contemplate the role Australia should play, consider that Foreign Minister Bob Carr recently devoted nearly $5 million to the "Extractive Industries Technical Advisory Facility," a multi-donor trust run by the World Bank that helps developing countries optimize their mining operations to support socioeconomic development.

Alongside aid and technical assistance to build capacity in developing countries' mines, Australia – together with global development partners and mining companies – could provide aid and technical assistance to help SADC countries control mine-related TB in southern Africa. These efforts would have the same fundamental goal: to ensure that "mining wealth drives future prosperity," in Minister Carr's own words.

It is estimated that TB costs the South African mining sector $835 million per year. Tackling TB in mines – as outlined in the SADC Declaration – would wipe out this cost and boost productivity, resulting in a total financial benefit of $755 million per year.

Fighting TB at one of its epicentres in South Africa's mines would also help minimize the global spread of drug-resistant strains, something that should concern Australians as we grapple with a regional outbreak of extensively drug-resistant TB.

Mining companies, African governments, international donors, and civil society must work together to ensure a sustained commitment to fighting TB – starting in African mines, and building up to a concerted global response to stop TB wherever it rears its head. We can defeat this disease. The SADC Declaration has paved the way. Now we must take action.