By Ania Lichtarowicz BBC Health reporter

The TB epidemic is sweeping through Africa, Eastern Europe, India and China

In a report marking World TB Day, the WHO is hailing its treatment strategy of the disease as a success.

But a top medical charity has attacked drugs and tests as archaic and called for an urgent increase in investment in TB research and development.

Tuberculosis kills about two million people each year.

'80% success'

The Direct Observation of Treatments (DOTS) scheme has been in place for 10 years and is used in 180 countries worldwide to fight tuberculosis.

Health workers ensure patients take their antibiotics properly - so avoiding the build-up of drug resistance as well as curing more than 80% of cases.

But the number of people who die of tuberculosis is likely to increase as HIV drives the TB epidemic through Africa, Eastern Europe, India and China.

So joint Aids and TB programmes need to be implemented to tackle both diseases simultaneously.

Major killer disease

Despite the WHO's saying the DOTS programme is saving thousands of lives a day, current treatments have come under fire.

The medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontiers, says that methods developed in the 19th century - and still in use today - must be updated in an effort to control the growing TB epidemic.

The charity demands to know why - if a diagnostic test for Sars can be developed in just a few months following the outbreak of the disease which killed about 800 people - more effort cannot be channelled towards TB.