I rise to support this motion and I acknowledge the member for Leichhardt and the member for Newcastle's longstanding advocacy around tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease spread by airborne dissemination of germs that carry the infection. It most commonly affects a person's lungs but it can also affect other parts of the body, causing serious illness and, in some cases, death. This is a disease which causes enormous suffering around the world. It is estimated that TB affected more than 10 million people and killed 1.6 million people in 2017. Experts have advised that 75 million more people could die by 2050 due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of TB. These are strains where the most commonly used antibiotics are less effective, and more intensive and protracted courses of treatment are required.
In Australia around a million people are estimated to have a latent or dormant form of TB. It's particularly concerning that, although the incidence of TB in Australia is relatively low, it is some six times higher amongst Indigenous Australians than amongst non-Indigenous Australians. Yet, because it's a disease which is not as prevalent in our country today as it was in earlier generations, there is a risk that Australians become less aware of the impact of this disease. If we need reminding of those risks, we only need to look at our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea.
A tuberculosis epidemic is raging in PNG. The country has the highest incidence of TB in the western Pacific region. It is currently experiencing over 30,000 new cases a year. Multidrug-resistant TB rates are particularly high in recognised hotspot areas such as Western Province, the National Capital District and Gulf Province. Port Moresby General Hospital now has a dedicated ward for TB sufferers. Many of the TB patients in the Port Moresby hospital are young children, with reports that paediatric TB cases make up more than a quarter of all cases in PNG. That is a tragic state of affairs.
In my role as shadow minister for international development and the Pacific, I have met many dedicated Australian aid workers and non-government organisations who work on development challenges around our region—challenges of poverty and economic development; challenges of health care, education and social development; and challenges of protecting vulnerable people in developing countries: women, children, people with disabilities, the elderly and those suffering from illness and disease. Earlier this year I met with a delegation from the advocacy group RESULTS Australia, a group of dedicated people from different walks of life, committed to fighting poverty around the world. One of their key issues is tuberculosis. They noted the particularly high burden of TB in Papua New Guinea and made the point that people suffering from TB in PNG are often also infected by HIV-AIDS. As the RESULTS delegation told me, these diseases are preventable, but what is needed to prevent them is funding.
Australia is providing significant funding for the fight against TB. We are working with the World Bank to support testing, diagnosis and treatment in PNG. We have also provided $75 million over five years for Product Development Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific Health Security Initiative, which is tackling TB and malaria. In the context of funding, I would point to the importance of the forthcoming replenishment of the Global Fund. The Global Fund is an international partnership to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It mobilises more than $4 billion a year from governments and the private sector to support programs run by local experts in more than 100 countries. The fund's sixth replenishment conference is being held in France in October. Australia has been a longstanding supporter of the Global Fund, contributing more than $700 million to date. I urge the government to renew this commitment for the period from 2020 to 2022 at this year's conference.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals include the target of ending the epidemic of TB by 2030, along with the epidemics of malaria, AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Achieving that goal is going to require sustained, focused, coordinated and well-resourced action from the countries of the world, and it will be fundamentally important for Australia to play its part in the fight against TB.
You can view my speech here.