Skip to content

Hit a home run, Canada

C’mon Canada, we are up to bat and it is time to hit a home run!

C’mon Canada.

Did you know that children in Africa, indeed the future of that vast continent, are going deaf due to the use of archaic drugs used to fight tuberculosis and MDR (multiple drug resistant) TB?

Well of course that is far away from here and doesn’t affect you, so why would you know?

This is inexcusable at a time when there are new technologies available to fight TB. Here’s hoping that we get the message sometime soon, however, otherwise the MDR-TB or XDR (Extra drug resistant) TB will come a-knockin’, right on our back door, and that itchy and scratchy vaccine you received as a child (and hopefully obtained for yours) will be of no use.

Canada is a leader in the fight against TB. Yes, though our reputation is suffering when it comes to the environment, Canada established TB REACH in 2009 and has helped to save countless lives as a result. Of this we should be proud. It is time to replenish our pledge to TB REACH. Mere pennies to us: $120 million, will help to prevent the horrible side effects of 40-year-old drugs used to combat TB in the poorer nations.

C’mon Canada, we are up to bat and it is time to hit a home run!

Connie Lebeau, Victoria