"50/50: Towards a TB-free future"             View 2004 Forum Info 

The Stop TB Partnership Secretariat is pleased to announce the major achievements of the Stop TB Partners' Forum:

• Final Report from the Partners' Forum;
• Launch and endorsement of the Global Plan to Stop TB (with strong expressions of support from George Soros, WHO and the World Bank, amongst others);
• Endorsement of the Stop TB Partnership Framework [English, French, Spanish];
• Endorsement of the Washington Commitment to Stop TB (which was posted on the Stop TB Website the same day, and has already been endorsed by an additional 30 partners by email);
• Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Global TB Drug Facility by Dr Brundtland, Director-General WHO and Mr Loevinsohn, Chair of the Stop TB Coordinating Board;
• Extensive media coverage in international press (including NY Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, Washington Times, The Lancet, etc).

The first Stop TB Partners' Forum—a landmark event in 2001 for the global partnership movement to Stop TB—was hosted by the World Bank in Washington DC, 22–23 October 2001. The Forum, which took as its theme "50/50: Towards a TB-free future", celebrates 50 years of progress in the treatment of TB and looks forward, highlighting that there are only 50 months remaining to reach the global TB control targets. The Stop TB partners engaged leaders in development and civil society to attend the Forum, including ministerial delegations from countries with the highest burden of TB.

Key background documents were prepared for the Forum: "50/50: Towards a TB-free future"; and the "Global Plan to Stop TB".

The Stop TB Partners' Forum had five stated objectives: (i) to report on progress since the Amsterdam Conference on Tuberculosis and Sustainable Development (March 2000); (ii) to further accelerate efforts to operationalize the Amsterdam Declaration to Stop TB; (iii) to address the urgent issue of TB and HIV/AIDS; (iv) to launch the Global Plan to Stop TB; and (v) formally to endorse the supporting mechanisms for the Stop TB partnership.

Further information is also available from the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat at mailto:stoptbinfo@who.int.