It's been announced that France and Britain are to set up a new joint programme costing more than one-and-a-half million dollars, to combat tuberculosis in West Africa.

The money will be managed by the Medical Research Centre in Gambia and will fund research into improving diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

The World Health Organisation says tuberculosis kills around three-million people each year worldwide -- more than any other infectious disease.

The WHOblames complacency and unsuitable treatment for a resurgence in the illness which, it says, is spreading rapidly everywhere.