24 March 2015 is World Tuberculosis Day.  Following a successful advocacy campaign involving RESULTS International (Australia), Julie Bishop has delivered a $30M funding boost to support late state clinical trials of new Tuberculosis treatments, the development of better Tuberculosis diagnostic tools and testing, and the development of anti-malarial drugs.

The campaign included the personal story of a brave and remarkable woman from the Philippines – Ms Louie Zepeda – who lost her eyesight and a career in architecture during a two-year battle with the disease.  Not being one to take that lying down, she is now a married with a young daughter, a program associate at the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) for the ASEAN Region, and an international advocate for Tuberculosis Patients and the Sight Impaired.

As a Director of RESULTS, this is a very proud moment .  Thanks must go to Ms Bishop and her staff, but well done to RESULTS CEO Maree Nutt and her hard-working team, and the  advocacy campaigners who attended the launch of the TB Forum at Parliament House on Monday 23 March 2015.