London ? Billionaire George Soros pledged $3 million Wednesday to fight a deadly strain of tuberculosis in Africa.

Since an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, was identified in South Africa last year, health experts have repeatedly issued warnings about the disease’s spread across the continent, fueled by the AIDS pandemic. But aside from a series of worldwide meetings, little concrete action has been taken.

Soros’ Open Society Institute announced a $3 million grant to the nonprofit organization Partners in Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The donation will be used to design a model project of community-based XDR-TB treatment in Lesotho. Once treatment guidelines are developed, experts hope the program will be adopted in other poor countries.