Tuberculosis (TB)is an infectious disease which kills more than 2 million people annually, making it the leading cause of death among adults. During the last 30 years increasingly active drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis have changed the conditions of treatment and the morbidity of the disease.
Approximately 2 billion people (one-third of the world's population) are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of TB. TB is the cause of death for one out of every three people with AIDS worldwide. The spread of the HIV epidemic has significantly impacted the TB epidemic. One-third of the increase in TB cases over the last five years can be attributed to the HIV epidemic. Worldwide, TB is the leading cause of death among people infected with HIV.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. The aim is to contain the resurgence of tuberculosis with particular emphasis on multiple antibiotic resistant forms.
There has been a rise in the incidence of TB in many areas of the world and many strains seem to be drug resistant. Many claims have been made for the Hawaiian Noni plant, and one recent study has shown a very definite beneficial use. Noni has been found to kill the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.