Global Fund: New rapid TB testing to reach 13 countries, bringing lifesaving diagnosis closer to communities

Global Fund news release

TB, the world’s leading infectious disease killer, claims more than 1 million lives every year despite being preventable and curable. One of the biggest barriers to ending TB is that millions of people still lack access to rapid, accurate diagnosis. To help close this gap, 13 countries are preparing to roll out a new, first-in-class near-point-of-care (NPOC) molecular diagnostic test for TB across health facilities as part of an Early Adopter initiative driven by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).

Supported by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and implemented on the ground by the Aurum Institute, the initiative will deliver nearly 3 million fast, accurate TB tests to people and places that have never had access before – in Bangladesh, Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, Viet Nam and Zambia.

This rollout follows a recent World Health Organization recommendation to use NPOC molecular tests as the initial diagnostic tool for adults and adolescents with symptoms of pulmonary TB, replacing the use of century-old microscopy for TB diagnosis. These tests can be used in primary care centers, where most people with TB first seek care, helping to close one of the largest gaps in the TB response: timely diagnosis at the community level.

Read the full news release here.

For more TB updates, check out the TB CAB Weekly Newsletter (Issue #18, 21 June 2026).

The newsletter is brought to you by the Global TB Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) with the support of Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). Subscribe to the newsletter here.