Only 1 percent of positive people are tested for tuberculosis, researchers from the Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION) coalition said during a press conference August 8 at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Reuters reports.

“One of the great tragedies of this epidemic is that people who are living with HIV, after hard-fought battles for access to antiretroviral treatment, go on to die needlessly from TB,” said Jim Yong Kim, MD, chief of the division of social medicine and health inequalities at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Tuberculosis is a curable infection, and the ACTION coalition recommends all positive people undergo tests. It is a cheaper test compared to the cost of HIV medication, Dr. Kim said.