The global health community got a few pieces of hopeful news this week . On Monday the World Health Organization announced that two newly developed intravenous drug therapies appear capable of curing Ebola. The medications could help end a continuing epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where nearly 2,800 people have been infected over the past year and more than 1,800 have died. Combined with the recently developed Ebola vaccine, they could even help eradicate a disease that has killed more than 12,000 people over the past four decades .

Then, on Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration effectively endorsed a three-drug treatment that appears to cure so-called extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis — the deadliest version of the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Tuberculosis infects about 10 million people globally every year, and roughly 30,000 to 50,000 people are believed to be infected with the extensively drug-resistant strain , which is usually fatal.

Together, these developments could mark a pivotal moment in the century-long quest for global health security. But that quest will only succeed with the help of sustained, cross-border collaboration. For instance, countries need health systems capable of detecting disease outbreaks and delivering and monitoring these new treatments — all of which require substantial funding. International policies must be in place to promote the use of the treatments, and affected communities need to trust the organizations charged with providing their care.

The latest effort to stamp out Ebola in Congo has faced some of these problems — there’s been a deep mistrust of global health workers, and the World Health Organization has received only half of the money that donors have promised to devote to the crisis. The fight against tuberculosis faces similar challenges, including a lack of global investment that has prevented medication and innovative diagnostics from reaching the people who need them most. Roughly a quarter of people believed to be infected with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis are properly treated for the disease, a problem that will need to be resolved quickly for the new drugs to have an impact.