The 2nd Annual Stop TB Partners' Forum, held March 24-26 in New Delhi, India, emphasized the simultaneous priorities of advancing the fight against TB today and investing now in development of new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines.
The financial case for this two-pronged approach to reverse the epidemic is outlined in the Global Plan to Stop TB – Update, which was released at the Partners Forum.
Dr. Maria C. Freire, Chair of the Working Group on Drug Development, presented recent drug development progress. She noted that even the existence of a pipeline of new TB drugs, was “a quantum leap from where the world was just a few years ago.”
The meeting convened ministerial delegations of the 22 highest tuberculosis burden countries, political representatives from the G-8 countries, and representatives from the private sector, civil society, NGOs and other constituencies of the Stop TB Partnership. The Stop TB Partnership recognized six countries for reaching and sustaining the Global TB Targets for four years; (Cuba, Maldives, Morocco, Peru, Tunisia, Viet Nam). Meeting attendees also endorsed the "Keeping the Pledge to Stop TB" which affirms the impact of new, improved tools, including drugs on the fight against TB.
About the the Global Partnership to Stop TB:
The Global Partnership to Stop TB is a global movement to accelerate social and political action to stop the spread of tuberculosis around the world. The Stop TB mission is to increase access, security, and support to:
- ensure that every TB patient has access to TB treatment and cureprotect vulnerable populations from TB, and
- reduce the social and economic toll that TB causes to families, communities, and nations.
The Partnership's approach is a coordinated, multinational, multisectoral global effort to control TB. It operates within the framework of "The Global Plan to Stop TB," a strategy document or "business plan" developed and adopted through a consensus building process that culminated in its launch at the 2001 Partners' Forum meeting of all principal stakeholders. The Global Plan to Stop TB is a road map to the work programme of the Partnership to the year 2005.