About the TB and Poverty Subgroup

Vision:

"A world where the poor and most vulnerable are protected from TB and have easy and equitable access to quality care"

Purpose:

To enable the STOP TB Partnership to achieve its global targets and contribute to its poverty related mission statements*:-

To ensure that every TB suspect/patient has easy and equitable access to effective diagnosis, treatment and cure.
To reduce the inequitable social and economic toll of TB.

Observable Verifiable Indicators (OVIs):**

By 2010 all countries will:
- Have developed capacity to monitor the extent to which TB control reaches and serves the poor and vulnerable.
- Have developed key strategies for improving access to TB control for the poor and vulnerable.
By 2015 all countries will have developed the capacity to demonstrate and monitor the contribution made by TB control to poverty alleviation.

The TB and Poverty subgroup is a subgroup of the DOTS Expansion Working Group. It was formed as a result of the launch of the Network Secretariat for Action on TB and Poverty at the UNION Conference in 2004 and was officially endorsed as a subgroup by the DEWG in 2005.

It is a network of individuals and organisations who are engaged and interested in ensuring that the specific needs of poor and vulnerable populations are addressed in the delivery of TB services. Members include NTP managers, NGOs, community and patient representatives, members of the other Working Groups of the STOP TB partnership, academics and others working on similar issues. Members have been identified based on their participation in TB and poverty meetings at international conferences and elsewhere or on their work in this field. There is no restriction on membership of the subgroup.

The subgroup provides a forum for discussion and an opportunity for knowledge and experience to be shared between its members. The subgroup is directed by a smaller team of people working in the area, known as the core team. Membership of this team is restricted and based on institutional affiliation.

The objectives of the Subgroup have been divided into three main categories:

Advocacy
Research
Support

The 40th Union World Conference on Lung Health, organized by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, will be hosted in Cancún, Mexico, from 3 to 7 December 2009. The theme of the conference is "Poverty and lung health."

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:

TB and Poverty Subgroup Breakfast meeting:
December 6th, Cancun 8.00 - 8.45

Aim of the meeting is to update the Subgroup on the activities of the Core Team and changes of the Subgroup Secretariat in 2010.

Location: Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Cancún (opposite the conference centre):

ALL WELCOME

Specific Subgroup items at the Conference:

Dec 3, ca 4 pm, Stop TB Symposium - "Access to health care for TB patients: mapping patients' costs", with a specific focus on how Operational research projects could help improving access to care
Dec 4, 9-12 am, TB CAP workshop on the Patient Centered Approach - the Quote Tool, the Patients Costs Tool and the Patient Charter will be presented
Dec 4, 1.30 - 5 pm, Post-graduate workshop organized by Karen Bissell and Peter Gondrie: Addressing poverty in TB control: options for National TB Control Programmes
Dec 6. 9.00 - 11.15 Symposium coordinated by Bertie Squire and Rachael Thomson: A world free of TB requires free TB diagnosis
Dec 7, 12.45 - 1.45pm, Poster Discussion: Social Determinants in TB control
Dec 7, 12.45 - 1.45 pm, Poster Display : Assessing patients' costs and access barriers with the tool to estimate patients' costs
Dec 7, 12.45 - 1.45pm, Poster Display: Policy and programme implementation

For more detailed information on addressing TB and Poverty in National Programmes please download the TB and Poverty Guide which may be found at:
http://www.who.int/tb/challenges/poverty/en/

* - As stated in the STOP TB Partnership Mission statement: /stop_tb_initiative/#vmg
** - As stated in the Global Plan: /globalplan/assets/documents/SSP_DEWG.pdf