A new diagnostic tool that shortens the diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) from eight weeks to two hours should be made available to vulnerable populations according to a WHO expert, Reuters reports.

UNAIDS and the Stop TB Partnership joined together on Thursday at the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 in Vienna, Austria, with the goal of preventing 200,000 deaths annually from HIV and tuberculosis co-infection, Agence France-Presse reports. TB is the number one killer of people living with HIV/AIDS (Ingham, 7/22).

"Six months to the day since a magnitude-7.0 earthquake leveled 60% of [Port-Au-Prince's] buildings and killed 230,000 people, there are few visible signs of improvement," USA Today reports. "Frustration is high among Haitians and aid groups who say they see halting and haphazard progress toward recovery. The Haitian government ? responsible for the cleanup but still reeling after the loss of most of its buildings and many of its workers ? and the aid groups blame each other for the lack of progress," according to the newspaper.

AOL News examines health officials' concerns about the world-wide spread of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, focusing on the U.S. and Mexico.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) now has the rights to "develop a class of potential anti-TB compounds" that may also treat Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis, Reuters reports.

The FDA's new rare disease review group will hold its first public hearing on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss how to expand efforts to develop treatments for rare diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people, Reuters. "The new rare disease review group is part of a broadened effort to encourage companies to spend more money on the more than 6,000 rare diseases identified," Reuters writes, adding that the FDA "already offer[s] companies grants and guaranties seven years of market exclusivity for drugs that treat rare diseases."

Foreign Policy examines reactions to the priorities set forth in President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative (GHI) and what they might mean for PEPFAR. Some argue that the administration is "backtracking on a global health battle the world was starting to win" against HIV/AIDS, while others believe the U.S. "responded to the HIV/AIDS emergency a decade ago ? now it's time to take a broader, more sustainable approach that can eventually move patients away from their reliance on the United States."