African health ministers gathered in Maputo, Mozambique, for the 55th session of the World Health Organization's Regional Committee for Africa on Thursday declared tuberculosis an emergency on the continent, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/25). "Despite commendable efforts by countries and partners to control tuberculosis, their impact has not been significant, and the epidemic has now reached unprecedented proportions," WHO Regional Director for Africa Luis Gomes Sambo said in a statement (BBC News, 8/25). The number of new TB cases has quadrupled since 1990 in 18 of the most-affected African countries, and more than 500,000 people on the continent die of the disease every year, Sambo said (Irish Examiner, 8/26). Only 11% of the world's population live in Africa, but more than 25% of the world's TB cases occur on the continent (Odallah, Reuters UK, 8/26). The resolution adopted by the ministers urges "immediate measures by member states to implement emergency strategies and to intensify actions in the fight against the disease," Mario Raviglione, director of WHO's Stop TB Department, said, adding that the ministers have decided on actions that will be carried out over two years and require $1.1 billion in new funding. The declaration urges improved TB detection and treatment, antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS, broader national partnerships and the recruitment and retention of more trained health care workers on the continent (AFP/Yahoo! News, 8/26).