Europe now has its Berlin Declaration against TB
Meeting last monday in the German capital for a European ministerial forum, 49 of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region adopted The Berlin Declaration on Tuberculosis. The aim? To fight more effectively against this disease that affects 445,000 people on the continent of Europe.
Among the different measures decided upon by the 300 participants, five “regional undertakings” were adopted: to encourage investment in national health systems; to achieve more effective application of the DOTS strategy drawn up by the WHO in 1995; to fight multi-resistant and ultra-resistant forms of tuberculosis and against co-infection with HIV; to put an end to the stigmatisation of patients; and, lastly, to promote pursuit of new diagnostic tools, new medicines and vaccines.
But time is of the essence. With the exception of Africa, the WHO European Region is the only area where the incidence of tuberculosis is reducing too slowly to meet the 6th Millennium Development Goal: ie “to halt tuberculosis and begin to reverse the trend by 2015”. Each year more than 65,000 people fall victim to the disease in Europe. Mainly in the countries of the former Soviet bloc.
9 article(s)
Tuberculosis: monitoring every patient
Tuberculosis – hope does battle with concern
TB – drug resistance on the increase in the East!
Tuberculosis: the bacillus is becoming increasingly resistant to treatment!
Smoking leaves us more vulnerable to tuberculosis
Will tuberculosis become incurable?




