We are pleased to report the success of the global campaign for World TB Day 2001. Four key international events were held: in South Africa on 16 March where His Grace Archbishop Desmond Tutu initiated World TB Day events on the occasion of the opening of the Tyger Trade & Training Job Creation Centre in Cape Town; in New York on 20 March where Médécins sans Frontières held a panel discussion on "Defusing the Time Bomb: The World's TB Crisis"; in Washington DC on 21 March for a joint event where the National Council for the Elimination of TB and Stop TB launched the "Omnibus Control Act of 2001" and the Global TB Drug Facility (GDF), respectively; and in Brussels on 23 March where the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development announced the publication of the executive summary of the pharmacoeconomics report.

World TB Day materials in English, French, and Spanish can still be downloaded from the Stop TB website at /events/world_tb_day/2001/WTBDpack.htm. The materials were produced by the IUATLD and the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat.

• Global TB Drug Facility (GDF): interim GDF pilot projects

The GDF Technical Review Committee (TRC) met on 14-15 March to review applications and make recommendations for countries eligible to receive grants from the GDF. The TRC reviewed 9 applications: 5 were approved subject to conditions; 1 was not approved and has been asked to re-apply; no decision was taken on 3 applications because the information was incomplete. Countries have until 15 April to provide additional information to the TRC. A second round review will take place in mid-July.

Follow-up will involve country missions during the next few months to ensure that the conditions for support from the GDF are clear to the interim GDF pilot projects.

IAPSO, an independent agency of UNDP, has been selected as the procurement agent for the GDF through a process of competitive bidding.

For further information please contact the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat at stoptbinfo@who.int.

• Interim Coordinating Board

For further information please contact the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat at stoptbinfo@who.int.

• Staff Secondments

The Stop TB Partnership Secretariat seeks support from partners for staff secondments to consolidate global action to operationalize the "Amsterdam Declaration to Stop TB". Please contact the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat at stoptbinfo@who.int for further information.

• WORKING GROUPS

TB/HIV

The first meeting of the global Working Group on TB/HIV will take place on 9-11 April in Geneva. This meeting, which will be attended by technical experts and representatives from collaborating agencies, will examine new technical and policy strategies required to maximize synergies in supporting the provision by general health services of the full range of HIV and TB prevention and care interventions. Expected outcomes of the meeting include: (1) strengthened collaboration between HIV programmes and TB programmes; (2) review and endorsement of the new proposed WHO/UNAIDS strategy on TB in high HIV prevalence populations; and (3) review of progress in current ProTEST projects with a view to stimulating more widespread dissemination of the ProTEST approach.

The Stop TB Communiqué is issued monthly by email to global partners in order to share information on progress in the global partnership movement to stop TB. Partners are invited to submit news items, progress updates, comments and suggestions to reynoldsk@who.org. Stop TB Partnership Secretariat, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27. Visit the Stop TB website at www.stoptb.org. The site is sponsored by the American Lung Association www.lungusa.org. Stop TB is a partnership hosted by the World Health Organization www.who.int.