Salmaan Keshavjee wrote "Leading by example: Bold steps are needed to stop tuberculosis deaths among patients living with HIV" for Science Speaks’ Blueprint series, in which clinicians, researchers and advocates address the key elements they would like to see in the global AIDS response blueprint that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for at the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington.

Keshavjee writes, "It is hard to believe that tuberculosis has been treatable since the late 1940s and still remains the number one killer of people with HIV worldwide. In 2011, UNAIDS launched an aspirational strategy called “getting to zero,” which advocates reducing tuberculosis deaths among people living with HIV by half between 2011 and 2015. Presently, according to the Stop TB Partnership, more than 1,000 people infected with HIV die every day from tuberculosis. It is clear that our current approaches to addressing the global tuberculosis pandemic are inadequate. For people living with HIV, this means profound excess suffering and death. Thus, as we look to the future, any credible blueprint for the United States’ response to the HIV epidemic must include a bold strategy for addressing deaths from tuberculosis."

He continues, addressing why so many people still die from TB and outlining three approaches to reducing TB deaths: (1) define targets for reducing TB incidence to zero and use them in developing an investment framework for TB-HIV integration activities that aggressively scales up access to the current standard of care for tuberculosis diagnostics, treatment and prevention. (2) Implement known strategies for stopping the spread of TB. (3) Ensure that HIV advocates at the community level are educated about the threat of tuberculosis. See the article for details of these elements of an effective strategy for reducing TB incidence, particularly among HIV patients.