News archive 2009

7 October 2009 - Geneva - Mr Thomas Marion Moore took up his duties today as interim Chief Operating Officer of the Stop TB Partnership's Global Drug Facility (GDF). Mr Moore will stand in for Mr Robert H. Matiru for the next six months, during which time Mr Matiru will serve as project manager for pandemic influenza vaccines deployment. The Stop TB Partnership has agreed to release Mr Matiru to take on this role at the request of Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.

"We are both delighted and fortunate to have obtained the services of Mr Moore, a highly experienced professional with a 38-year track record in pharmacy management in the private and public sectors and at local and international levels," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.

Formerly Principal Program Associate, Management Sciences for Health, in Arlington, Virginia; he has most recently served as a consultant for GDF, providing technical assistance in TB medicine supply systems and sourcing of TB medicines. From 2002-2003 Mr Moore was on staff at the Stop TB Partnership and helped establish GDF.

He has broad experience developing pharmacy management programmes and providing technical assistance to ministries of health in a great many countries, including Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Honduras, Egypt, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Surinam and Viet Nam.

Mr Moore holds a Master of Science degree in Community Health Administration from East Carolina University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina.

5 October 2009 - Rome - International football star and Stop TB Ambassador Luis Figo launched the Italian-language version of the educational comic book Luis Figo and the World Tuberculosis Cup at the Pistelli Primary School today. As part of the event Figo read the comic book aloud to a group of students and answered their questions about tuberculosis. Later he and the students kicked a ball around the school's pitch.

A group of 9- to 11-year-old students at the school also presented Figo with a poster campaign they created to raise awareness about tuberculosis. The campaign was developed in the run-up to the comic book launch, during which time they participated in special classes about tuberculosis.

The event was organized by Stop TB Italia with the support of the Lilly MDR-TB partnership and under the auspices of the Province and of Municipality of Rome.

"It was great to see how the children could interpret and understand the magnitude of the “TB problem around the world. I think the event was a real success and Stop TB Italia is really proud to have sponsored it," said Daniela Cirillo, General Secretary, Stop TB Italia.

28 September 2009 - Geneva - UNITAID launched a global ‘Thank you’ campaign today to highlight achievements in global health thanks to the steady support of its contributors.

Launched by Brazil, Chile France, Norway and the United Kingdom in 2006, UNITAID is an international facility that uses innovative, long-term financing to expand access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries.

Funded by a small levy on airline tickets applied in a dozen countries and through governments’ multi-year contributions, UNITAID aims to thank air travellers and tax payers in the 29 countries that support it today, and to encourage more countries to back the initiative.

UNITAID is a major funder of the Stop TB Partnership, with over 200 million dollars invested in testing and treating tuberculosis in 72 countries.

Through UNITAID's partnership with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. seven new AIDS medicines for children have been made available and their price has been reduced by almost two thirds.

UNITAID, partnering with UNICEF and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has so far distributed eight million of the most effective malaria treatments - artemisinin-based combination therapy - and is providing 20 million bed nets to endemic countries.

View the campaign

23 September 2009 - New York, New York -- "We have seen major strides this year," said Dr Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB as he spoke to assembled participants in the Clinton Global Initiative during his update on the TB/HIV Commitment today.

One year ago Dr Sampaio formally endorsed a commitment with the Clinton Global Initiative to increase engagement of global leaders in supporting coordination of tuberculosis and HIV services and ensure that their Ministries of Health implement nationwide programmatic scale up and capacity building for these combined services.

"One of my first steps was a request to the WHO Regional Director for Africa for the 59th Regional Committee to include a special ministerial discussion on tuberculosis, including integrated approaches to tuberculosis and HIV," he said.

In August, Dr Sampaio addressed Ministers of Health from 46 African countries at the Regional Committee meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. In his speech he put to them four specific "asks", urging them to acknowledge HIV/TB as a critical issue and address it systematically in their countries.

Dr Sampaio pointed to several other important advances over the past year: the adoption of TB/HIV response as one of the nine priorities of the new UNAIDS administration; intensified support from WHO; a call from the Board of the Global Fund that all projects proposed for HIV must address tuberculosis and vice versa; preparation by the World Bank of a project with African countries hard-hit by HIV that aim to improve their integrated public health laboratory networks; support from the Gates Foundation for joint tuberculosis and HIV advocacy and further field research through the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic (CREATE); and scaling up of civil society action for integrated service delivery.

The Clinton Foundation has made new efforts with industry to support access to rifabutin, which is needed in TB treatment among HIV-infected individuals. Other strides include major support for tuberculosis and HIV interventions from PEPFAR and US Congressional reauthorization of PEPFAR, including a recommended $US 4 billion for tuberculosis control over 5 years; the opening of NIH-supported HIV clinical trial sites for tuberculosis research; and announcement of the Obama Administration's Global Health Initiative, which includes HIV and tuberculosis efforts.

Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Senior Advisor for Science, Technology and Innovation, National Economic Council, facilitated the session.

22 September 2009 -- New York, New York -- A crowd of more than 200 people including high-level government representatives from dozens of countries and heads of UN Agencies gathered at a reception here tonight to celebrate the millions of lives saved though the support of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The reception was hosted by the Stop TB Partnership, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), UNAIDS and UNITAID.

The assembled dignitaries were greeted by fashion icon and public health advocate Christy Turlington Burns; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Chair of the Board of the Global Fund and Minister of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, songstress and public health advocate. Ms Chaka Chaka also treated the guests to a song, delivered a capella.

Stop TB was represented by Dr Lee Reichman, leading champion in the global fight against tuberculosis, on behalf of Executive Secretary Dr Marcos Espinal. RBM, UNAIDS and UNITAD were represented respectively by Executive Director Dr Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director Dr Michel Sidibe and Executive Secretary Dr Jorge Bermudez. Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund was in attendance; as were Dr Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB; and Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria.

The event took place amid the flurry of activity related to the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly this week.

3 September 2009 - Kigali, Rwanda -- In his remarks today at the 59th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa Dr Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB, praised African health ministers for progress they have made on TB, particularly on integrating TB and HIV services; while at the same time urging stronger leadership on TB.

The Special Envoy presented participants with four requests. "First, please be ambitious!" he said. "Set ambitious national targets and mobilize the funding necessary to reduce the number of people living with HIV who die unnecessarily of TB."

Second, he asked the gathered ministers to focus on the need for joint efforts, which are much more likely to produce results than isolated moves. "Therefore, mobilize HIV-affected communities, broader civil society and the private sector for a response to tuberculosis; and educate and empower them to become active partners in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of TB," he said.

The third ask concerned drug-resistant TB. Very few people with drug-resistant TB are receiving correct diagnosis or appropriate treatment, he said. "Ministers, as you know, a drug-resistant epidemic is a serious threat to all your efforts! Don't hesitate to press the international community to support your efforts."

As a final request, President Sampaio asked participants to consider the need for an initiative akin to the soon-to-be-launched African Leaders Malaria Alliance. "Why don't we start working to launch a similar initiative for TB in September next year? Think about it!"

In the course of this special session on TB control, participants looked at progress achieved since the 2005 Regional Committee's African TB emergency declaration.

Several ministers made passionate interventions, notably about the potential threat of drug-resistant TB in the continent, the need to strengthen the laboratory network to better diagnose TB and to develop and build the capacity of health workers to address all aspects of TB in the African Region. All expressed strong support for strengthening partnership across the region to fight TB.

The session capped off a mission by a high-level delegation of the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board and Dr Sampaio. The delegation included Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Stop TB Department; Carol Nyirenda, Communities Delegate to the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board; Dr Jeremiah Chakaya, Vice Chair of the Board; and Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership. Dr Hiro Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director General for HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, supported the delegation and was present for a number of its activities.

President Sampaio and the Stop TB delegation took this opportunity to hold a series of meetings with the Ministers of Health of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The object of the meetings was to offer support and practical assistance from Stop TB Partners and WHO in delivery of national TB control agendas.

On 2 September His Excellency Festus Mogae, the former President of Botswana, Dr Luis Gomes Sambo, newly re-elected WHO Regional Director for the African Region, and Dr Hiro Nakatani, ADG WHO, joined Stop TB Board members from the African Region, the Ministers of Health of Lesotho (Mphu Ramatlapeng) and Tanzania (Prof David Mwakyusa) and the delegation at a dinner organized by the Stop TB Partnership and hosted by President Sampaio. Dr Sampaio also paid a visit to Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame.

Read Dr Sampaio's speech

1 September 2009 - Kigali, Rwanda - Dr Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Stop TB and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé together witnessed, first-hand, delivery of integrated HIV and TB services during a visit to the Socio-Medical Centre in Biryogo.

"It is gratifying to be at this clinic, which has intensified TB case finding in people living with HIV through TB screening and transferring confirmed cases to a TB clinic. In addition patients who enrol at the health centre with tuberculosis are also tested for HIV and those found to be HIV positive are given integrated care and support. It is a programme that reflects Rwanda's impressive progress nationwide on coordinating TB and HIV services," said Dr Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB.

Dr Sampaio has made a Commitment to Action through the Clinton Global Initiative to increase engagement of global leaders in supporting the coordination of TB and HIV services, and ensure that their Ministries of Health implement nationwide programmatic scale-up and capacity building for these combined services.

Mr Sidibé highlighted the progress Rwanda has made in improving the outcome of TB and HIV co-infection through better collaboration and the use of innovative diagnostic technology and underlined the UN's commitment to effectively tackling the dual epidemics.

"I am pleased to see that Rwanda is leading Africa and the world in taking an integrated approach to dealing with the interlinked epidemics of TB and HIV. Rwanda's bold leadership is achieving impressive results that show the rest of Africa what can be achieved," said Mr Sidibé said.

Mr Sidibé emphasize that tackling TB and HIV jointly is a priority for UNAIDS and, as stated in the UNAIDS Outcome Framework 2009-2011, it is one of the nine key areas for achieving results with the final goal being that no person living with HIV should die of TB.

Dr Sampaio and Mr Sidibé proceeded to another joint visit to Rwanda's National Reference Laboratory in Kigali, where they saw evidence of the country's major investment in laboratory services.

Rwanda has been tackling a thorny issue -- the difficulty of diagnosing TB among people living with HIV. TB diagnosis requires visualization under a microscope of the bacteria that cause the disease, obtained via sputum samples. Among people living with HIV, often few bacteria are present in the sputum and they are therefore not detectable through conventional diagnosis, even if the person has serious TB disease. Consequently the diagnosis is often missed.

The sensitivity of a TB diagnosis can be improved by incubating the samples to multiply the TB bacteria; but this process can take weeks or even months using conventional methods. To increase speed and accuracy of TB diagnosis, fast liquid culture (MGIT) will be introduced and rolled out soon in Rwanda. The National Reference Laboratory is also studying more efficient microscopes and staining techniques to improve speed of TB diagnosis.

Since 2004 Rwanda has had the capacity to test for drug-resistant TB. The National Reference Laboratory and the other main laboratories in the country are also currently developing their capacity to diagnose cases of XDR-TB (although none have been detected in Rwanda to date).

Dr Sampaio and Mr Sidibé congratulated the laboratory staff on their excellent work and recognized the key role they play in reducing deaths from TB among people living with HIV.

They highlighted the need for much greater investment in strengthening laboratory services and committed to advocating for increased investment in research for a faster, simpler and more accurate TB test.

Click here to view a slideshow of images relating to this article.

27 August 2009 -- Braunscheig, Germany -- The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research today opened a photo exhibition in cooperation with the Stop TB Partnership. "Tuberculosis - Face to face with a worldwide threat" features photographs by Evelyn Hockstein, Jean Chung, Riccardo Venturi and Sailendra Kharel. The photographs are part of the Stop TB Partnership's "Images to Stop Tuberculosis" collection.

The exhibition, which is intended to raise awareness about tuberculosis and the people who are affected by it, will run at the research centre from 27 August to 31 October. The exhibition will then be shown from 1 November to 1 December at the House of Science Braunschweig.

The Helmholtz Centre, which employs some 600 staff from more than 40 countries and is supported by the federal government of Germany and the state of Lower Saxony, is engaged in basic research on TB -- chiefly the study of the molecular biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In May, the centre ran an open-door event, with hands-on exhibits and access to TB researchers. Some 1500 residents of this historic northern city of 250 000 people visited the centre over the course of the day.

12 August -- Geneva -- A new web site, Evidence-Based Tuberculosis Diagnosis, has been developed and launched by the Stop TB Partnership's New Diagnostics Working Group in collaboration with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, the Global Laboratory Initiative and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The site aims to provide the most comprehensive single source of evidence synthesis, policies, guidelines and research agendas on TB diagnosis. It offers access to relevant systematic reviews; policies, guidelines and research agendas; and reports, monographs, training modules and presentations.

It is also a source for complete up-to-date information on the current TB diagnostics pipeline. Standard operating procedures and package inserts for several tests also are available.

All information is provided as open access, with no registration or fee requirements.

6 August 2009 -- New York -- The William J. Clinton Foundation and the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Matrix Laboratories Ltd have announced an agreement that will lower the cost of second-line antiretroviral drugs for drug-resistant forms of HIV and the TB drug rifabutin.

Pfizer will offer the tuberculosis drug rifabutin in 10 countries for $1 per dose, or $90 for a full course of treatment over six months. Rifabutin is the best TB drug for use in people taking second-line ARVs because other medicines have undesirable interactions with protease inhibitors - the class of ARVs that represent the backbone of second-line treatment. To counteract this effect, ARV dosage is often increased, but this leads to greater toxicity, worse treatment outcomes and higher costs. Pfizer’s rifabutin does not interfere with protease inhibitors.

Matrix, a unit of U.S.-based Mylan Inc, will make four second-line drugs for HIV treatment available at a cost of $475 per year, with further reductions in 2010.

UNITAID helped to make the second-line ARV price reductions announced today possible through its Second-Line Project.

21 July 2009 - Cape Town, South Africa, More than 200 people attended a pre-meeting to the International AIDS Society (IAS) meeting entitled, Catalysing HIV/TB Research: Innovation, Funding, and Networking. Participants included people living with HIV, activists and researchers, including NIAID Director Anthony Fauci and Nobel Laureate Françoise Barrè-Sinoussi of the Institut Pasteur. The meeting was organized by WHO and the Stop TB Partnership's TB/HIV Working Group in collaboration with the IAS, the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic, Treatment Action Group and the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre.

The meeting highlighted a new TB vaccine trial begun recently in South Africa and other progress in TB research. But participants pointed to development of a rapid new form of point of care TB diagnosis as a high but unmet research priority.

Still, some spoke of encouraging signs for greater commitment to TB/HIV collaborative activities. "There is clearly much broader support for collaborative TB/HIV programming, research and advocacy than ever before," said Dr Diane Havlir, Chief of the HIV/AIDS Division and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, chair of the Stop TB TB/HIV Working Group and a member of the IAS Governing Council.

20 July 2009 - Geneva - The Stop TB Partnership today launched the 2009 Images to Stop Tuberculosis Award competition. The award, which has the goal of promoting creation of outstanding photos depicting prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, is sponsored by the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership.

Photographers are invited to submit their work for consideration. An international jury of photography experts and representatives from UN and other partner organizations will select the winning photographer. The winner will receive US$ 5000 in prize money and a US$ 5000 grant to produce photo reportage about tuberculosis.

Read the note to the media

16 July 2009 -- Johannesburg -- A Stop TB Partnership delegation on a high-level visit to South Africa were greeted today by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. They also met at length with Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, discussing the findings of the recent TB programme review led by WHO and several partners and the way forward to accelerate action on TB and TB/HIV.

Members of the high-level delegation included: Irene Koek, Chair of the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board; Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership; Giorgio Roscigno, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; Dr Stella Anyangwe, WHO Representative to South Africa; Dr Leopold Blanc, Coordinator in the WHO Stop TB Department; and Dr BAH Keita, Regional Adviser for Tuberculosis for the WHO African Region; and Catherine Sozi, UNAIDS Country Coordinator, South Africa.

The Stop TB Partnership delegation also met with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe, who was visiting South Africa, and discussed TB/HIV.

Read the joint statement by the South African Ministry of Health and Stop TB

16 July 2009 -- Johannesburg -- A joint review of South Africa's TB programme by WHO and Stop TB Partners finds that management of TB has significantly improved since 2005 in this country.

Commenting on the Review findings, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi expressed his confidence on the ability of the country's health system to continue to respond to the TB pandemic even in the context of HIV and AIDS. "We are encouraged by the findings of the Review. Moving forward, we have to strengthen around the areas that the Review draws our attention to. We are grateful to the WHO and other partners for working with us in conducting this Review", he said.

Read the joint statement

8 July 2009 -- L’Aquila, Italy -- In their joint declaration issued today: Responsible Leadership for a Sustainable Future, the leaders of the G8 Summit pledged to implement further efforts towards universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010, with particular focus on prevention and integration of services for HIV/TB. "We will combine this with actions to: combat TB and Malaria. . . In this regard, we stress the importance of addressing gender inequality," they wrote.

In a separate Experts' Report, "Promoting Global Health" the leaders noted that where there have been substantial investments and good performances, impressive results have been achieved. This is especially evident in the dramatic increase in coverage on several disease fronts, notably tuberculosis, HIV, child immunization, polio and malaria, they stressed. "Despite these major advances, the job is far from done. Sustained political leadership and commitment are needed," they wrote.

The report calls specifically for strengthening of basic TB control, management of MDR/XDR TB; integrated HIV-TB care and increased availability of labs and diagnostics. And it reaffirms the G8 Commitment to halting the spread of TB. "We will also support the Global Plan to Stop TB, 2006-2015, which aims to cut TB deaths in half by the year 2015 compared to 1990 levels, saving some 14 million lives over ten years, and call upon all donors and stakeholders to contribute to its effective implementation, " they wrote.

"We commend the G8 leaders for their recognition of recent achievements in TB and HIV/TB control -- and also for their call for scale-up of prevention and treatment and stronger political leadership," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.

6 July 200 - Geneva - The High-level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council, ongoing at United Nations in Geneva this week, is focused on improving global health. At session called Partnerships in health - lessons from multi-stakeholder initiatives today Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership, addressed delegates about the Stop TB Partnership's achievements and the challenges it faces.

Other speakers on the panel were Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS; Philippe Douste-Blazy, Special Advisor on Innovative Financing for Development and Chair of the Board of UNITAID; Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director, Roll Back Malaria Partnership; and Natalia Imbruglia, Spokesperson for the Campaign to End Fistula.

Read Dr Espinal's statement
Link to the site of the ECOSOC meeting

1 July 2009 -- Miami, Florida, USA -- MTV Latin America today launched a special report covering the 3rd Stop TB Partners Forum, which was held in March in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and featuring footballer Luis Figo as an Agent of Change.

A one-minute spot will run for three weeks on MTV Latin America starting today at and will continue to be aired for three weeks. In this segment MTV report Ilana Sod interviews Figo in Milan about his role as a Stop TB Ambassador. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=59591110.

A five-minute special report about Figo and his role as a Stop TB Ambassador featuring an interview with MTV reporter Ilana Sod and a report from the 3rd Partners' Forum can be viewed at la Comunidad MTV Agentes de Cambio in MySpace. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=59795710.

Read the press release in English
Read the press release in Spanish

1 July 2009 - Tokyo - The Stop TB Partnership Japan today launched a fund to support advancement of clinical trials for new TB drugs and diagnostics under development by private Japanese enterprises in developing countries. The M/XDR-TB Frontier Fund will provide grants-in-aid to health facilities in developing countries deemed capable of conducting clinical trials in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) / WHO Good Clinical Practice standards.

The grants-in-aid will be used for construction or renovation of hospital wards and microbiology lab facilities, provision of diagnostic and IT equipment, staff training and information sharing with individuals and institutions involved in the trials.

To ensure transparency and impartiality of the Fund, an Executive Committee of five to six qualified experts will be established under the Stop TB Partnership Japan Secretariat.

30 July 2009 - Bethesda, Maryland, USA -- The benefits of fully implementing the Global Plan to Stop TB in sub-Saharan Africa would outweigh the costs nine to one, according to an analysis published today on Health Affairs. The study, authored by Ramanan Laxminarayan and coauthors, is a follow-up to a World Bank research report, Economic Benefit of Tuberculosis Control, completed on behalf of the Stop TB Partnership in 2007. That study found that 22 countries with the world’s highest numbers of TB cases could earn significantly more than they spend on TB diagnosis and treatment if they signed onto the Global Plan.

The researchers' results are based an epidemiological and economic model that projects TB incidence and mortality under various approaches and calculates the economic costs of additional treatment and monitoring versus the economic benefit of averting TB-related deaths.

Health Affairs, published by Project HOPE, is a leading peer-reviewed journal of health policy.

Read the abstract of the new study

28 June 2009 - Herat, Afghanistan - The Stop TB National Partnership Afghanistan has launched its first sub-national partnership in the Herat province.

The creation of the partnership was announced at an event attended by dignitaries including Claudio Glaentzer, Ambassador to Afghanistan from Italy; Dr Amin Fatem, Public Health Minister of Afghanistan; Roohullah Nekapa, the first Olympic Medalist (Tae Kwondo) from Afghanistan and Ambassador of the Stop TB Partnership Afghanistan; Peter Graaff, WHO Representative in Afghanistan; and Akihiro Seita, Regional Adviser for Tuberculosis for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. On the occasion of the launch Mr Glaentzer and H.E. Dr Fatem inaugurated a new TB/HIV collaborative centre, which will be financed with grants from the Global Fund, Italian Cooperation and the World Bank.

The National Stop TB Partnership Afghanistan, which was established in 2008, plans to establish sub-national partnerships in other provinces with the objective of providing local solutions to local TB control.

18 June 2009, Seattle, Washington - A three-day meeting about MDR-TB by world leaders in global health, science, industry and policy came to a close today. "MDR-TB: Overcoming Global Resistance", was the theme of this 5th annual Pacific Health Summit.

The event followed the arc of three important international health meetings addressing TB this year: the STOP TB Forum in Rio de Janeiro, a ministerial meeting of high M/XDR-TB burden countries in Beijing and the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

Participants at the meeting included Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO; Paul Farmer, Founding Director, Partners In Health; Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Chris Viehbacher, CEO, sanofi-aventis; John Dineen, President and CEO, GE Healthcare; Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Ann Veneman, Executive Director, UNICEF; Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Stop TB Department and Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.

Link to the Pacific Health Summit Web Site

17 June 2009 - Seattle, Washington - Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), today announced reduction in the cost of liquid culture testing.

The agreement lowers the cost of BD MGIT™ reagents, which will now be sold at an 80% discount. BD’s TB diagnostic technologies utilize liquid culture, a TB testing protocol that provides results faster than traditional, solid media culture.

The price reduction arises from a November 2007 agreement between BD and FIND. At that time, BD agreed to reduce already below-market prices on completion of 3.5 million tests, a milestone achieved this month.

Read the press release

13 June 2009 -- Geneva -- Luís Figo sprinted across the field and sent the ball soaring into the goal post. It was a move hardly typical for a winger, but this was no ordinary game. This was All Stars '09, a charity match to raise funds for children's causes.

At half-time Figo ran with the ball again -- this time as the main character of an animated cartoon, which premiered here this evening for an audience of nearly 12 000 spectators and satellite television viewers in 80 countries.

The film is the animated version of a comic book, Luis Figo and the World Tuberculosis Cup, produced last year by the Stop TB Partnership. In the film, as in the comic book, Figo is featured as the captain of a team of teen-aged girls and boys. Together they win a match against a squad of tuberculosis germs.

View the cartoon

Link to the press release

12 June 2009 -- Cape Town, South Africa -- Thembi Ngubane, aged 24, died last week in a public hospital of complications from multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Thembi, who was living with HIV, was known to millions around the world through broadcasts of her audio diary, which were recorded in 2006 with the help of Joe Richman, an independent radio producer from the United States.

"Thembi thought the virus should be scared of her, rather than the other way around," writes Richman, in his eulogy to her, published on the National Public Radio web site. "And one of the first things Thembi recorded for her radio diary — in which she chronicled for a year her experience of living with AIDS — was what she called her 'HIV Prayer.'

"Hello, HIV, you trespasser, you are in my body," she said. "You have to obey the rules."

All told Thembi recorded 50 hours of diary entries over the course of a year.

She leaves behind a four-year old daughter, her partner, her mother, two sisters and a brother.

Link to Thembi's Radio Diaries

4 June 2009, Geneva -- International football icon and Stop TB Ambassador Luis Figo will be in Geneva on 13 June to play a charity match -- All Stars '09. And when the game is over it will not quite be over -- the Stop TB Partnership will have its moment in centre field with the premiere of an animated cartoon about tuberculosis featuring Figo as the main character.

Figo, a long-time advocate for the health and well-being of young people, was appointed a Stop TB Ambassador in January 2008. In July the Stop TB Partnership released a comic book, Luis Figo and the World Tuberculosis Cup, in which Figo is featured as the captain of a team of teen-aged girls and boys. Together they win a match against a squad of tuberculosis germs. The comic book seeks to teach children and teens about tuberculosis and how to prevent it.

The animated cartoon version of Luìs Figo and the World Tuberculosis Cup will be shown in its French-language version at the gala match. It will soon also be available in Arabic, English, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish and broadcast widely around the world.

The game will take place at 19.15 on 13 June at the Stade de Genève at La Praille and will also feature current and former soccer stars and trainers including Mourinho, Chistian Chivu, Ronaldino, Clarence Seedorf, Fabio Capello, Giovanni Trapattoni and Giga Popescu.

The event will benefit the Luis Figo Foundation and other charitable projects. The Luís Figo Foundation, created in 2003, seeks to provide children and teens - especially those who are underprivileged - with conditions and opportunities for fully realizing their potential as people and citizens through sports.

Tickets for the match can be purchased through www.resaplus.ch.

27 May 2009 -- Washington, DC --The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), announced at the Global Health Council Conference today that four new drug discovery collaboration agreements have been signed. All four projects have the potential to generate compounds active against drug-resistant tuberculosis and show promise to advance the science of TB drug development.

The discovery partnerships include programmes with:

Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing small-molecule therapeutics derived from its boron chemistry platform.

Colorado State University to test whether inhibition of menaquinone biosynthesis - a key component of the energy generation system in M. tuberculosis (M.tb) - has the potential to eradicate the disease in vivo.

Institute of Microbiology (IMCAS), a member institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to discover and develop novel anti-TB agents from natural sources.

New York Medical College to explore the type 1 topoisomerase (Topo 1) enzyme that facilitates the unwinding of DNA.

Read the press release

27 May 2009 -- Geneva -- The World Health Organization has been awarded the prestigious annual award of International Cooperation by the Prince of Asturias Foundation in Spain.

Prince of Asturias Foundation awards are intended to acknowledge scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic work carried out at an international level by individuals, institutions, groups of people or groups of institutions whose achievements are exemplary at an international level.

In its statement about WHO's selection, the Foundation said that "WHO is considered one of the most respected international institutions for its efforts towards the coordination and cooperation between countries in health matters. Since its establishment, it has contributed towards the eradication of pandemic diseases such as smallpox, the reduction of cases of poliomyelitis by more than 99%, the prevention and control of infectious diseases such as aids, tuberculosis and malaria; the reduction of child mortality rate; and the detection and management of epidemic outbreaks worldwide."

Read the press release

22 May 2009 -- Geneva -- Following a two-day discussion, the World Health Assembly today passed resolution WHA 62.15, "Prevention and control of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis". The Resolution agrees to strengthen measures to make access to M/XDR-TB diagnosis and quality treatment universal and endorses strict quality standards for the provision of anti-TB drugs and efforts to limit their misuse.

At the start of the Assembly there appeared a possibility that debate on the Resolution would be deferred because of the need for extensive discussions on Influenza A (H1N1) and the fact that the Assembly had been shortened to five days. But several WHO Member States intervened, stressing that passage of this resolution was an urgent matter and could not wait.

Research for new TB diagnostics, medicines and vaccines is prioritized under the resolution through support for extra financing. At the same time, WHO will also work with Member States to develop national TB response plans that will prevent more people from getting drug-resistant tuberculosis, and diagnose and treat those who do

Read the Resolution

22 May 2009 -- Providence, Rhode Island, USA -- The documentary film, On the Lake -- Life and Love in a Distant Place, by David Bettencourt and G. Wayne Miller, is reminding people across the United States that tuberculosis was the number one killer in their country in the not so distant past. The one-hour documentary, produced by Stop TB Partner Eagle Peak Media, chronicles the lives, loves and losses of Rhode Islanders who were confined to a lakeside TB sanatorium in the first half of the 20th century, when no effective TB treatment was available. The film paints a powerful portrait of the stigma attached to TB, and the terror the disease inspired across the United States, in the pre-antibiotic era. The documentary closes with a hard look at the global TB epidemic today.

On the Lake was broadcast widely on affiliates of the Public Broadcasting System in cities around the US beginning in March and will continue to appear through this spring and summer. It will also be screened at the 2009 National TB Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in June.

Find out more about the film and its broadcast schedule through its web site, http://www.onthelakemovie.com

14 May 2009 -- Geneva -- UNITAID today approved fresh funding for two ongoing projects aimed at curbing MDR-TB: the MDR-TB Scale-up Initiative and EXPAND-TB.

The MDR-TB Scale-up Initiative seeks to increase the number of patients receiving second-line drugs and improve market dynamics for these drugs. A new grant of US$ 16 384 000 will allow the Global Drug Facility(GDF) and Green Light Committee -- both of which are Stop TB Partnership initiatives hosted by WHO -- to scale up treatment of MDR-TB in India from 2010 through 2012.

The first UNITAID grant of US$ 37.6 million for the initiative was approved last July. Its objective has been to boost the supply of drugs needed to treat MDR-TB in 17 countries, with the additional goal of achieving price reductions of up to 25% for second-line anti-TB drugs by 2010. All the countries receiving this assistance have Green Light Committee-approved MDR-TB treatment programmes in place. Some are using grants from the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to purchase the drugs.

India, which will benefit from the expansion of the initiative, has more MDR-TB cases than any country in the world -- an estimated minimum 130 000 cases in 2007 alone. With the addition of India the number of patients accessing second-line drugs through the initiative is expected to increase three-fold. This surge in demand is expected to have a favourable impact on market forces.

EXPAND-TB supplies MDR-TB diagnostics to high-burden countries. With a new grant of US$ 61 482 085, the project, led by the Global Laboratory Initiative (a Stop TB Partnership Working Group) in close collaboration with the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics (FIND) and GDF, will be expanded to increase the countries covered from 16 to 27. The overall objective is to jump-start strengthening of laboratories in these countries, through collaboration between a variety of partners.

The project, started up in June with an initial grant of US$ 26.1 million from UNITAID, introduced an important breakthrough -- a molecular method to diagnose MDR-TB, which was until then was used exclusively in research settings. These rapid, molecular tests, known as line probe assays, produce an answer in less than two days, not the standard two to three months needed with other methods.

The Global Laboratory Initiative has been helping countries prepare for installation and use of the new rapid diagnostic tests and other diagnostic innovations, such as liquid culture, ensuring necessary technical standards for accuracy and biosafety. FIND is responsible for technology transfer, and GDF is providing the diagnostics.

10 May 2009 -- Amman, Jordan -- Rania Ismail, an up-and-coming performer on Jordanian TV, has been appointed a Stop TB Ambassador by the country's Ministry of Health. Ms Ismail, a versatile artist who performs in teleplays, soap operas and other popular television vehicles, is also a qualified psychological counselor who has been very active in social issues including women's and children's rights and reproductive and adolescent health.

Ismail has pledged to support a TB awareness drive in Jordan and the entire Arabic-speaking region through a variety of media activities. She is the second celebrity to have joined the fight against TB in the Eastern Mediterranean in the past year. In December Egyptian cinema star Laila Eloui pledged to support the Eastern Mediterranean Partnership to Stop TB by engaging with countries across the region.

22 April 2009 - Oxford, UK, Rockville, MD (USA), Cape Town, South Africa - A Phase IIb clinical trial will test some 2800 South African children under the age of one year for the safety and immunogenicity of a promising new TB vaccine developed at the University of Oxford. Researchers will also seek to obtain preliminary efficacy data for the vaccine. This is the first proof-of-concept trial of a new preventive TB vaccine in infants in more than 80 years.

The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd, Isis Innovation Ltd., the Wellcome Trust and the University of Cape Town are collaborating on the project. The study will be conducted by the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) of the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape Region.

Read the press release

6 avril 2009 -- Ouagadougou/Yaoundé -- Les activistes francophones ont créé un réseau de lutte contre la tuberculose. Son lancement a été suivi de la signature de la charte par les représentants de dix associations. La mission du réseau, qui porte le nom de Forum Francophone, est de créer un cadre institutionnel lui permettant de participer non seulement à la lutte contre la tuberculose mais aussi à la lutte contre la coinfection TB/VIH.

Le forum mobilisera tous les acteurs de la société civile de lutte contre la tuberculose et les maladies respiratoires en Afrique francophone par la participation aux activités de sensibilisation, de prévention, de diagnostic, de traitement et de recherche dans le but de fédérer leurs idées et leurs actions à travers une démarche communautaire et participative.

Lisez la Charte de principes du Forum Francophone contre la tuberculose et la coinfection TB/VIH

1 April 2009 - Santo Domingo - HE Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, First Lady of the Dominican Republic and HE Rafael Alburquerque, the country’s Vice President, were present at the launch of a national Stop TB Partnership here today. In a speech at the launch, HE Dr Bautista Rojas, Minister of Health, praised the Global Drug Facility for its role in improving access to anti-TB drugs and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for the technical assistance it has provided to the Dominican Republic.

As part of the launch Mrs Melba Segura de Grullón, President of Sur Futuro, a foundation devoted to fighting poverty, was appointed as a national Stop TB Ambassador. A Stop TB Committee - in which affected community groups, the private sector, NGOs, PAHO, the Global Fund and USAID are represented - was also established. Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership, was honoured by the First Lady during the opening ceremony.

1 April 2009 - Beijing -- WHO Director-General Margaret Chan warned today that the global epidemic of drug-resistant TB is poised to spin out of control and urged countries to fight the growing threat.

"Call it what you may - a time-bomb or a powder keg," she said at the opening of a three-day ministerial meeting on drug-resistant TB in Beijing, which is being attended by ministers and senior officials from 27 countries worst-affected by drug-resistant TB. "Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation."

Countries attending the meeting are being urged to develop national plans to prevent and control the spread of drug-resistant TB. "At a time of economic downturn, the world simply cannot afford to let a threat of this magnitude, complexity and cost spiral out of control," Dr Chan said.

On the occasion of the meeting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chinese government announced a $33 million project for research on diagnostics and treatments for drug-resistant TB and improving surveillance. "Because of its skill, its scale, its TB burden, its love of innovation, and its political commitment to public health, China is a perfect laboratory for large-scale testing of new tools and delivery techniques to fight TB," Gates said. The project will initially cover 20 million people and then be expanded to 100 million people over five years.

25, March 2009 - English, Portuguese

24, March 2009 - English, Portuguese

23, March 2009 - English

English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish

24 March 2009 -- The total number of new TB cases remained stable in 2007 and the percentage of people becoming ill with TB continued to decline. But 25% of TB deaths were HIV-related, twice as many as previously estimated, according to a new WHO report released today.
2009 Global TB control report released
Fact file on tuberculosis

At the 3rd Stop TB Partners Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (24 March 2009), Ministers of Health of countries affected by tuberculosis and representatives of partner organizations welcome the progress made in the fight against TB. Read more...

23 March 2009 - Rio de Janeiro - More than 1300 people gathered at the Centro de Convenções SulAmérica today for the opening of the Stop TB Partners’ Forum. Read more...

20 March 2009 - Rio de Janeiro - Hearts and minds will be touched by Images to Stop Tuberculosis, a powerful and innovative new photo exhibition opening this week in Rio at the Centro de Convenções SulAmérica, the Favela Rocinha, and the Centro Cultural Justiçia Federal before moving on to tour museums and public spaces in other major world cities. The exhibition aims to raise worldwide awareness of the disease, which takes the lives of nearly 5,000 people every day. Read more...

19 March 2009 - This week Brazil is at the hub of activity around the global fight against tuberculosis - a killer disease that takes the lives of nearly 5000 people around the world, including 20 people in Brazil, every day. Read more...

5 March 2009 - Montreal -- During Montreal Fashion Week, this past week, attendees were introduced to more than the latest in haute couture—they found out how tuberculosis devastates the lives of women across the world. Results, Canada broadcast a 15-second video to raise awareness about tuberculosis on a giant 20 X 20 metre outdoor screen in the most frequented neighbourhood of Montreal. The spot, which highlights TB as the number one infectious killer of women, ran run 24 times a day for four days.

Some 25,000 people attend fashion week, and the city estimates 50,000 drivers move through the neighbourhood daily.

Action Sheet (English)
Action Sheet (French)

Video
English
French

4 March 2009 - Rio de Janeiro - In preparation for the 3rd Stop TB Partners’ Forum a group of TB and TB/HIV activists has come together to create a Rio Communities Declaration. The document seeks to bring to light activist priorities and catalyze action on addressing them. People from the Stop TB community around the world are invited to add their support to the Declaration or comment on it. The deadline for comments is 10 March 2009.

Letter of introduction to the Rio Communities Declaration
Rio Communities Declaration

Rio Communities Declaration (brief version)

Carta de apresentação
Declaração Comunitária do Rio

Declaracion Comunitaria de Rio vers español

Lettre de présentation et Déclaration Communautaire de Rio

23 February 2009 - Geneva - Composer AR Rahman, a long-time TB advocate, was awarded two Oscars last night - one for the best music score and the other for the best song. Both were composed for the international hit movie Slumdog Millionaire, which also grabbed the Oscar for best motion picture.

"We are delighted to see Mr Rahman--who has campaigned far and wide to raise awareness about tuberculosis--receive this well-deserved recognition for his magnificent music," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.

The fast-paced music blends hip hop, Bollywood remix and pop. Rahman has said he mixed the sounds of new and old India to create the score. He is the first person from India to win two Oscars.

16 February 2009 - Damascus, Syria -- H.E. Dr Maher Alhousami, Minister for Health of Syria, announced the creation of a National Partnership Program for Combating Tuberculosis in his country during the third meeting of the Coordinating Board of the Eastern Mediterranean Stop TB Partnership, held here for the past two days. The new partnership is an initiative of the Ministry of Health, the Syrian Society for Combating Tuberculosis, WHO and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, among others.

At a press conference held on the occasion of the meeting Dr Hussein A Gezairy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, congratulated Syria for achieving a 70% case detection rate for TB.

Other outcomes of the Board meeting included decisions to continue providing support for the creation and development of national partnerships in the Region and to organize upcoming Board meetings in countries that are already in process of initiating national partnerships. The Board will also encourage countries to use all possible financing avenues available to initiate and run national partnerships, particularly Global Fund grant support.

14 February 2009 - Tokyo- Valentine’s Day is for people who care - about fighting TB. That’s the message from the Stop TB Partnership Japan and Results Japan, who produced, in limited quantity, a special STOP TB chocolate to celebrate the day. Mr Naruse, a former MDR-TB patient, pictured here with the confection, appeared in January on the widely viewed Japanese programme
"TV Asahi".

9 February 2009 - Geneva - By tradition, on playing fields across the world, soccer teams stand silently for a moment to honour fallen team-mates or acknowledge the passing of football heroes. In a short film released today by the Stop TB Partnership international soccer star and Stop TB Ambassador Luis Figo observes a moment of silence for the nearly 5000 people who die each day of tuberculosis. The film, which was produced by Fabrica, the Benetton Group communications research centre, will be aired as a public service announcement on television networks and news and entertainment web sites across the world.

View the public service announcement

27 January - New York City - John Tedstrom has been appointed the new president and chief executive officer of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC). Tedstrom suceeds Richard Holbrooke, whose appointment as special representative in the US State Department was announced last week.

GBC is a non-governmental organization that consists of major for-profit corporations. Coalition members bring their business capabilities and resources to the fight against HIV, TB and malaria; and GBC helps guide the application of those resources.

"We congratulate GBC on this excellent choice for its leadership," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership. "John Tedstrom was instrumental in forging GBC's agenda on tuberculosis, and he has engaged in a superb collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership. We look forward to working with Mr Tedstrom on scaling up the engagement of businesses on TB research and control to a new level."

Tedstrom, who joined GBC in 2006, was former director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs for the US National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. He worked for nearly a decade at the RAND Corporation as economist and senior economist and held the Jacyk Chair at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in 2000-2001.

Read the GBC press release

21 January 2009 - Geneva - Christian Lienhardt has joined Stop TB as Senior Scientific Adviser to the Research Movement.

Dr Lienhardt will manage development of the Stop TB Research Movement in line with advice provided by the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board and WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group. He also will liaise with the new tools working groups with view to harmonizing the next steps in speeding up research to develop new TB and drugs, diagnostics and vaccines; contribute to advocacy activities; and devise strategic approaches to key research stakeholders, with the aim of increasing investments in TB research.

"We welcome the arrival of Dr Lienhardt, whose work will play a vital role in bringing greater attention to the need for international TB research and for facilitating consensus on the international TB research agenda - attention to this issue is urgently needed," said Irene Koek, Chair of the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board and chief of USAID's Infectious Disease Division.

A graduate of the Faculté de Médecine in Strasbourg, France and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and a former lecturer at the London School, Dr Lienhardt most recently headed the Clinical Trial Division at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. There he coordinated a multicentre clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of a fixed-dose combination TB treatment. Previously Dr Lienhardt developed and conducted a series of basic, translational and operational research projects on tuberculosis at the Medical Research Council (UK) Laboratories in The Gambia and as Research Director at the Institute for Research in Development in Dakar, Senegal and Paris, France. Notable among these projects is an international multicentre clinical trial investigating a four-month regimen for TB treatment.