The Australian government vowed to give $30 million as funding for the fight against tuberculosis and malaria, as announced by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Canberra during the Australasian Tuberculosis Forum launch for World TB Day.

About $10 million of the funding will go to TB Alliance to help support the late-stage clinical trial phase of new treatments for the disease. The Foundation of Innovative New Diagnostics and Medicines for Malaria Venture will also receive $10 million each to help fund the development of diagnostic tools and anti-malarial drugs, respectively.

In her announcement, Bishop said, “Drug resistant TB and malaria pose a threat to health security in our region and carry a high burden for our Asia-Pacific neighbours.” Based on the report taken from the Communicable Diseases Network Australia, there were 1,300 TB notifications from 2011.

During the forum launch on Monday, medical research and advocacy groups called out to the government to give more focus on the diagnosis of tuberculosis, which they refer to it as the “neglected disease.” Tuberculosis is considered a highly contagious disease and is on the way to becoming a global health problem due to drug-resistant strains.

Each year, about 1.2 million people die from the disease with the Indo-Pacific region being affected by more than half of the global cases.

Current treatments for tuberculosis are ineffective according to Dr Mary Moran, head of independent research organisation Policy Cures. She described Australia’s participation in the fight against TB as “a toe in the water” and encouraged the government to “take that toe in the water and wade in.”

The treatment and diagnostic tools for tuberculosis have not changed over the decades, but new drugs that are more effective and affordable are being developed and according to Moran, with $22 million for global funding it can go a long way to help make the treatments readily available.

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