The success of our joint TB research program would not be possible without the continued support and cooperation of the United States and Chinese governments working at the national and provincial levels to bring together expertise and collaboration opportunities.

We need more of this type of progress. Despite such examples of cooperative problem solving, TB remains a major global public health problem, with 9.4 million new cases and more than 1.7 million deaths in 2009. With HIV/AIDS claiming over two million lives each year, and malaria killing about 800,000, TB is one of the three leading causes of death worldwide due to an infectious disease. Every 20 seconds someone dies from TB.

The TB epidemic has also been exacerbated by its complex interaction with HIV/AIDS. TB is the leading cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, an estimated 11-13 percent of incident cases are HIV-positive. This dual epidemic is particularly pervasive in Africa, where 80 percent of all HIV-TB co-infected people in the world are found.

Drug resistant TB compounds the problem and threatens to undermine years of progress in TB control efforts. In 2008, there were an estimated 440,000 cases of multi-drug resistant TB in 57 countries. Access to good quality services to diagnose and treat drug resistant TB continues to be inadequate, with only five percent of multi-drug resistant TB patients having access to treatment.

These disturbing numbers demand global attention and action. I look forward to a future when US-China leadership in combating TB, through concrete projects such as our joint research partnership in Henan, makes significant, transformative advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of TB worldwide. Such successes can only come through much hard work by all involved - the very people we celebrate on World Tuberculosis Day. Therefore, let us take a moment to consider a world without the scourge of TB.

The author is director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, US National Institutes of Health.