ROCKVILLE, Md., May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Dr. Jerald C. Sadoff, President and CEO of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation on the passing of Dr. JW Lee, Director-General, World Health Organization:
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. JW Lee, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
Dr. Lee's work and leadership had special meaning to those of us engaged in the global fight against tuberculosis. As the former Director of the Stop TB Department, Dr. Lee built Stop TB into a highly successful public-private partnership that made enormous progress in combating tuberculosis around the world.
Dr. Lee always recognized that to fight disease you must invest both in treatment and prevention now, and in research that will produce more effective tools in the future. It was under his leadership that the Global Plan to Stop TB 2001-2005 addressed the development of new vaccines, drugs and diagnostics as global priorities. His vision set the stage for the large-scale investment and progress we are now seeing in the development of these new tools. It will be through the Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015 that we will realize the goal of developing more effective vaccines, diagnostics and drugs, in the effort to reverse TB incidence, halve TB prevalence and death rates, and one day end TB as a global health problem.
In particular, Dr. Lee's contribution to vaccine development and access was critical to addressing global health crises. As Director of the WHO Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunization and the Executive Secretary of the Children's Vaccine Initiative, Dr. Lee was a pioneer in harnessing the power of government, industry and NGOs to solve critical global health problems. His leadership helped lay the foundation for successful public- private partnerships like Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which has distributed millions of vaccine doses to children worldwide, and to today's organizations that are leading the fight to develop new tools against TB, malaria, AIDS and other neglected diseases.
With Dr. Lee's passing the world has lost a vital global health leader, but his legacy will live on in our fight to end the diseases that are plaguing millions.
Dr. Jerald C. Sadoff
CONTACT: Bruce Kirschenbaum of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation,+1-301-547-2943, bkirschenbaum@aeras.org
Web site: http://www.aeras.org/
