“We are not seeing a major effect in getting the numbers of cases of TB reduced year-by-year in an accelerated way.”

Two areas -- Europe and Africa -- will likely not cut the TB death rate by 2015, which is the goal set by the United Nations. Mr. Raviglione reports that in Western Europe and North America, there are about five or six TB cases for every 100,000 persons. He says the numbers in Africa are much higher.

“In Africa you find peaks, especially in southern Africa, like South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho etcetera, of a thousand cases per 100,000 -- so, many times higher than what you see in rich countries.”

The World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria say they need an extra $1.6 billion every year to treat and prevent the disease. They say that money could pay for treatment for 17 million people with TB and save 6 million lives between 2014 and 2016.

Mr. Raviglione says about 60 percent of the $1.6 billion dollars would be for WHO operations in Africa.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Stem cells have the ability to develop into many kinds of cells in the body. A new report says stem cells taken from a person’s own body fat may one day be used to fight a deadly form of brain cancer.

The brain tumor known as glioblastoma mainly affects men. Most patients do not live more than a year after the tumor is found. By operating, doctors can remove most of the cancer. But that does not cure the patient.