Newsflash: Global Ministerial Conference on TB announced for November 2017

Geneva ¦ 17 October 2016 - The Russian Federation announced that it will host a Global Ministerial Conference on TB in the context of Global Health and the Sustainable Development Goals in Moscow from 16-17 November 2017. Leading officials from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the World Health Organization (WHO) met last week in Moscow, to finalize a memorandum of agreement in support of the conference. The WHO Ministerial Conference will bring together ministers of health from across the globe with the aim of accelerating progress towards the target of ending the TB epidemic by 2030, as set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO End TB Strategy. Also invited will be ministers from other sectors and representatives of partner agencies and civil society.

The announcement comes close on the heels of the release of the WHO Global TB Report, which highlighted the higher than expected burden of death and disease due to TB. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide, and 1.8 million deaths, including 0.4 million among people with HIV. TB was among the top ten causes of death worldwide in 2015.

“I would like to commend the Government of Russia for its commitment to place TB high on the political agenda throughout the region and globally”, said Dr Ren Minghui, WHO Assistant Director-General for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases. “We hope that the Conference will serve as a platform to strengthen commitment at the highest levels from all countries to wipe out this top infectious killer”.

The Ministerial Conference was also highlighted in the Declaration made by the BRICS countries --Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa -- at the Eighth BRICS Summit held in Goa, India from 15-16 October 2016.

Further information on the Ministerial Conference will be available in the coming weeks.