24 March 2003

World TB Day 2003 is only 3 days away!

World TB Day 2003 is just days away and as part of the campaign to highlight the experience of TB patients and former patients and spread the word that "DOTS cured me…it will cure you too!", the Stop TB Partnership has developed a special World TB Day website dedicated to those who have had TB, have been cured with DOTS* and are willing to share their experience with others.

We will feature World TB Day events from around the world in every region on March 24^th, and the progress of these will be tracked as the day goes on so that you can see how your region and others have marked World TB Day. As the sun comes up in each region we will post the web pages relating to the events taking place there.

Send us news of your event and we will post it on this website to create a picture of events globally on World TB Day 2003. Please send your stories, descriptions, digital or scanned images (especially) to stoptbinfo@who.int and we will post all materials as fast as we are able.

We also ask you to consider posting a link to this World TB Day website from your organisation’s website. The following URL should be behind a link saying "World TB Day Live Website" or similar:

http://www.mayeticvillage.com/QuickPlace/who-worldtbday/Main.nsf/h_Toc/6478741B65FCDDA8C1256CE80034A23E/?OpenDocument

After March 24^th we will continue to post materials to this site, which will then be an online resource center for World TB Day highlights. These will be available for use for future World TB Day events and to share experiences, stories and images from around the world about the value of patient advocacy for TB.

*DOTS – the internationally recommended treatment strategy for TB

• You can find the entire content of this web alert, as well as previous ones on the Stop TB website at: /events/world_tb_day/2003/Alerts/default.asp
• TB Advocacy - A Practical Guide 1999 (html) or (pdf file 7741kb) [WHO/TB/98.239] - This practical guide outlines four basic steps that are essential for an effective advocacy initiative--documenting the situation, packaging the message, working with the media and mobilizing others.
• You can find the Stop TB Image Library at: http://www.worldlungfoundation.org/library.html
• For more information on planning for World TB Day 2003, consult "Guidelines for Social Mobilization: Planning World TB Day", available online at: www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2000/assets/documents/tbguide.pdf or order a hard copy from the CDS Documents Centre by emailing: CDSDOC@who.int.
• For more information on World TB Day 2003, visit our website at: www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2003/default.asp or contact the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat at: stoptbinfo@who.int.