Stop TB Partnership - Communiqué, No. 23

August 2002 issue of the Stop TB Communiqué

STOP TB COMMUNIQUE

Issue 23, August 2002

1. News from the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat

Note of Condolence

It is with great sadness that the Partnership reports the tragic death of Dr Tone Ringdal, Director of NO TB Baltic Project of the Norwegian Public Health Association. Dr Ringdal was tragically killed in an automobile accident on July 31^st 2002. We take the opportunity in this newsletter to acknowledge Dr Ringdal’s outstanding contributions to the Partnership and to express our sincerest condolences to her family.

Satellite Symposium on TB and Poverty, 11th & 12th October, Montreal 2002:

Urgent call for abstracts

This Satellite Symposium builds on the World TB Day 2002 theme: "Stop TB, fight poverty". The Symposium will explore the link between TB and poverty and potential methods of ensuring that TB control reaches poor people. The Symposium aims to bring poverty related multi-disciplinary research and DOTS Expansion closer together. Incorporating a TB and Poverty analysis within DOTS Expansion plans, could contribute in many countries, to the achievement of the 2005 Global Stop TB targets and the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

As part of this year’s theme, this symposium will build on the work fostered by the Stop TB partnership’s TB and Poverty Advisory Committee.

Regional Meetings

3^rd Meeting Stop TB Taskforce, African Region, 11-13 December 2002, Harare, Zimbabwe:

Over the last decade, Africa has experienced a huge increase in TB cases as a result of the raging epidemic of TB-HIV co-infection. As a consequence, the challenges of TB control have changed and countries are facing new constraints. Many TB control programs are struggling to cope with the workload and require additional and new approaches to effectively control this epidemic. Constraints and proposed solutions for accelerating DOTS Expansion need to be addressed by countries and Stop TB partners. In 1997, the WHO Regional Director constituted a Regional Task Force to advise on strategies to improve TB control and resource mobilisation efforts at the regional level and in Member States. A strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Control in the African Region (2001-2005) was developed in the 2^nd Stop TB African Regional Task Force. Commitment on acceleration and implementation are now key follow up steps.

1^st South-East Asian Stop TB Partners Forum, February 2003, Bangkok, Thailand: The first South-East Asian Stop TB Partners Forum will be held in February 2003. The Forum will provide a platform for information sharing, discussion and strengthening of regional Stop TB partnerships in support of countries in the South-East Asian region.

Advocacy and Communications

Community Mobilisation Activities

As recommended by the Stop TB Task Force on Advocacy and Communications at a meeting in Newark USA in April 2002, the Stop TB Partnership, assisted by the Secretariat, has initiated various activities related to communications and social mobilisation.

Community mobilisation experts joined the DOTS expansion country mission to Bangladesh at the end of May. This was followed by the preparation of a Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI) plan for Bangladesh.

A visit to Bangladesh is currently in progress, to discuss the COMBI plan with NTP Bangladesh and the process for implementation. This will be immediately followed by a visit to India to prepare the ground for developing a COMBI for India and also to finalise plans for the September review and planning meeting in New Delhi (24^th-26^th September). The meeting will focus on the various aspects of the community mobilisation activities being carried out in Bangladesh, Kenya and India. Key people from the national TB programmes of these three countries will attend.

Beyond these country-specific activities, a 1-day orientation workshop on COMBI is being organised under the aegis of the WHO AFRO office for AFRO staff members on 6^th September2002. This will lay the groundwork for community mobilisation activities in a second round of countries in early 2003.

From 1-19 July, Scott McCoy (CDC) and Tim Raftis representing ALA worked with the Secretariat in Geneva to compile an in-depth review of the 5-year plans for Advocacy & Communication activities of the 22 HBCs. A detailed report on the findings is being prepared and will be shared during the New Delhi meeting.

2. News from the Stop TB Working Groups
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DOTS Expansion Working Group

The third Stop TB DOTS Expansion Working Group Meeting will take place on 6 October 2002 in Montreal, Canada in conjunction with the 33rd International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (IUATLD) World Conference on Lung Health. The objectives of the meeting are to review the status of TB control and DOTS expansion, the country-level constraints and challenges, and to identify solutions conducive to meeting the 2005 global TB targets. The presentations will include:

Global DOTS Expansion Plan: How are we doing?
Overview of the financial situation for global TB control
GFATM and DOTS Expansion
The Global Drug Facility as a tool to expand DOTS
TB/HIV: Country experiences and panel discussion on collaborative activities between TB and AIDS control programmes
TB and Public-Private Mix: Country experiences and panel discussion on the need to involve private practitioners
DOTS-Plus for MDR-TB: Country experiences and panel discussion on mainstreaming DOTS-Plus into DOTS expansion

The audience attending the 33rd IUATLD World Conference will have the opportunity to listen to country representatives and selected speakers presenting their experiences.

Working Group on New Drugs - Montreal meetings

1. Meeting of Stop TB Working Group on New Drugs - Monday, October 7, 2- 6 p.m.

A meeting of the Stop TB Working Group on New Drugs will take place on October 7, in conjunction with the IUATLD Conference. It is scheduled from 2 to 6 p.m. and will take place at the Palais des Congres.

The meeting is open to all those who are interested in TB drug discovery and development. A good portion of the meeting will be dedicated to short presentations from those who are working in this area. Presenters will focus on the work of their institution in both discovery (including preclinical studies) and clinical studies. The intent is not to provide an exhaustive review of current work aimed at the development of new TB drugs, but rather to give the participants an update from a variety of groups active in this area. The co-chairs of this session are Drs. Rick O Brien and Giorgio Roscigno.

This meeting will build on the work of the Core Group of the Stop TB Working Group on New Drugs. Based on responses to a solicitation of interest sent out last year, a Core Group was formed. It assisted in the preparation of a Work Plan that has been included in the Global Plan to Stop TB (available on the Stop TB website: /GPSTB/default.asp and participated in a meeting of representatives of all the STB Working Groups earlier this summer.

As the lead agency for the Working Group, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development will support the organisation of the meeting and also invites all Working Group members to join in the first part of its Stakeholders Meeting, scheduled earlier that day between 9.30 and 11.30. (See below)

2. Global Alliance for TB Drug Development Stakeholders Meeting, October 7, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development is convening a meeting of its Stakeholders Association. Stakeholders are institutions that have expressed interest and have been formally invited to advise, guide and support the development of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. For a list of members, view http://www.tballiance.org/3_stakeholders.cfm?rm=sh&sub=stakeholders

The meeting will take place at the Palais des Congres in conjunction with the IUATLD World Conference and will consist of two sessions as follows:

General Meeting, tentatively scheduled for 9.30-11.30 a.m:

This part will be open to all members and staff of Stakeholders institutions as well as to members of the Stop TB Working Group on New Drugs. At this session, we will review the progress, key developments, challenges and opportunities met by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development since its inception and in particular since its last Stakeholders Association Meeting.

Restricted Business Meeting, tentatively scheduled for 12.00 to 1.30 p.m.

The Business Meeting will be restricted to voting representatives of the Stakeholders Association and will focus on strategic discussions and the workings of the Stakeholders Association, including the election of new members and a new president as well as nominations of members of the Board of Directors.

More information will be available by late August at www.tballiance.org

3. Symposium on Advances in Tuberculosis Drug Discovery, October 9, 14:00 pm to 16:30 pm

Over the past several years there has been steady progress towards the development of new drugs for TB and further impetus has been gained from the launch of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Discovery. In this session, the current status of the field will be reviewed and progress in several specific programmes highlighted. Speakers will include Nulda Beyers (South Africa), William Bishai (USA), Barbara Laughon (USA),) and Merrill Schaeffer (USA)

For more information, www.iuatld.org

3. News from the Global TB Drug Facility

GDF Applications/Review Update:

The current situation with regards to applications and review is detailed below.

Activity	To date
Rounds of applications and review	4
Number of counties applying for GDF support	45
Number of states within countries applying for GDF support	1
Number of NGOs or coalitions applying for GDF support	3
Number of countries approved for support	32
Drug orders placed	20
Number of patient treatments approved (inc. buffer stocks)	1,560,512

The secretariat is organising country visits to all 3^rd round countries and 4^th round countries as well as monitoring visits to all 1st and 2nd round countries.

The GDF Technical Review Committee reviewed the fourth round of applications from 23-24 July 2002. 14 applications were received - 1 was approved for emergency (1 year support), 1 for a mixture of emergency and regular grant support, 6 were approved for regular (3-year support), 2 were placed under consideration and 4 were not approved. In addition, the committee reviewed monitoring reports for a country being considered for second year support. This is under consideration.

The secretariat is now accepting applications for the fifth round of applications (closing date 11^th October 2002). Copies of the GDF application forms as well as NGO application forms, are available on the GDF website at www.globaldrugfacility.org in French, Russian and Spanish.
Countries recently approved for support by the Stop TB Co-ordinating Board: Angola, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire (dependent on commitment of donors, country review), Haiti, India (Orissa State), Mauritania (dependent on provision of missing data, letters of support form donors), Philippines, Sierra Leone.

4. Calendar of Events
For more information on upcoming events for following months, please click on the link below:
/events/archive.asp

September 2002

World Summit on Sustainable Development,
South Africa, Johannesburg, August 26 - September 4

3rd European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health,
Portugal, Lisbon, September 8-12

EMRO NTP Managers Meeting,
Syrian Arab Republic, Damascus, September 14-19

12th European Respiratory Society,
Sweden, Stockholm, September 14-18 (Abstract deadline Feb 28th. incl. session on Cost-effectiveness of TB control)

WEF European Economic Summit,
Austria, Salzburg, September 15-17

EURO Regional Committee Meeting,
Denmark, Copenhagen, September 16-19

WPRO Regional Committee Meeting,
Japan, Kyoto, September 16-20

2002 US Conference on AIDS,
USA, Anaheim, California, September 19-22

42nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC),
USA, San Diego, California, September 27-30

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