Tuberculosis afflicts ten million people every year, and continues to kill more people than any other communicable disease, despite global commitments to eliminate it. But, despite this awareness, TB in children is being systematically ignored, with a quarter-million young lives lost every year.

At the beginning of November, a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in Minnesota killed six people and made front page news. A single case in New York State made regional news last week. And so it goes, here in the U.S.. Wherever it appears, TB is an unexpected and frightening intrusion likely to draw media attention.

At last week’s 45th World Conference on Lung Health in Barcelona, Spain, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and World Diabetes Foundation jointly issued a call to action against a global co-epidemic of diabetes mellitus and tuberculosis.