Morning Briefing

PlusNews reports on the results of the Zambia-South Africa TB and AIDS Reduction (ZAMSTAR) study released on Monday at the International Lung Health Conference in Lille, France, which show that "[h]ome-based tuberculosis (TB) education and testing reduced community TB prevalence by about 20 percent." Noting that "the trial cost US$27 million [and] the interventions it piloted cost about $0.80 per patient," the news service writes that while "the cost-effectiveness of household outreach has not yet been calculated, ... [t]his will be of particular interest not only to national policymakers but also donors, who continue to tighten purse strings amid a global economic downturn" (11/1).