
he 21st Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board retreat and meeting officially started in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday, January 29th with the official opening ceremony held yesterday January 30th. Included are some exciting news from the meeting courtesy of Mark Harrington, Executive Director of the Treatment Action Group (TAG).
Over the past couple of weeks there have been much discussion and reporting on totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) based on reports of new cases in India. Here are links to coverage of TDR-TB in India, excerpt from a response by Dr. Nardell who we interviewed last year, and link to the WHO Fact Sheet on TDR-TB. Additional links to TB R&D News are included.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports for the first time that the number of people falling ill with tuberculosis (TB) each year is declining. New data, published today in the WHO 2011 Global Tuberculosis Control Report, also show that the number of people dying from the disease fell to its lowest level in a decade.
Yesterday, BBC News published an article on the WHO Plan entitled “Consolidated action plan to prevent and combat multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in the WHO European Region 2011–2015.” The plan outlines the problem as well as a solution that could save 120,000 lives if successful.
Over the last week, some announcements have been released concerning new tools, publications and meeting materials that may be of value to the TB community including materials from the WGND sponsored “Essentiality of Pyrazinamide” Workshop, an interactive map of clinical trials from PACTR, and a new Collaborative Framework for Care and Control of Tuberculosis and Diabetes from the WHO and The Union.
The Stop TB Partnership has provided information and references to help partners to prepare a successful proposal to The Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The call for Round 11 applications was released on August 15. Go to http://www.stoptb.org/global/tbfriends/ to get more information.
The United Nations (UN) released a report on July 12 on the progress made thus far on the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight MDGs include: end poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and global partnership. Key highlights and additional coverage on the report are included.