TB EMERGENCY IN AFRICA
WHO DECLARES TB AN EMERGENCY IN AFRICA
Call for "urgent and extraordinary actions” to halt worsening epidemic
Maputo, 26 August 2005
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa comprising health ministers from 46 Member States has declared tuberculosis an emergency in the African region - a response to an epidemic that has more than quadrupled the annual number of new TB cases in most African countries since 1990 and is continuing to rise across the continent, killing more than half a million people every year. Read the full press release. English | French
Blueprint to intensify action to reach the TB
MDGs in Africa.2005-2007.
Read
ARCHBISHOP TUTU SPEAKS ON THE EMERGENCY
Desmond Tutu supports the declaration of TB as an emergency in Africa.
Listen to his statement.
ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU URGES TB/HIV WORKERS TO CONTINUE TO RELIEVE SUFFERING FROM DUAL SCOURGES
Press release: Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS-TB Epidemic (CREATE)
28 September 2005
http://www.tbhiv-create.org/NewsUpdates/archbishop_desmond_tutu.htm
ROLE OF THE STOP TB PARTNERSHIP
The impetus for the TB emergency declaration began at the Stop TB Coordinating Board meeting in Addis Ababa in May 2005, when the Board recommended that WHO declare such an emergency following a special session on Africa attended by the WHO Regional Director, Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo, and the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, Madam Bience Gawanas. WHO and the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat then organized a series of activities around the WHO Regional Committee meeting in Maputo to reinforce the message, including production of a special exhibit on TB in Africa, the participation of a High-Level Delegation from the Stop TB Board, an address to the Committee by Board representative Jaap Broekmans, and a multi-pronged strategy to generate massive media coverage in the event a TB emergency was declared. For more on these activities, follow the links below.
- To read the address by the High Level Delegation, click here.
- To read the media strategy and outcomes, click here.
SPECIAL TB EXHIBIT AT THE MAPUTO MEETING
 
 
REGIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING IN PICTURES
 
| 55th Session of the WHO Regional Committee at the "Joaquim Chisano" center in Maputo, Mozambique. |
The Stop TB Delegation with Lucy Chesire, the representative for affected communities, at right of Jaap Broekmans on far end. |
| Members of the Stop TB high-level delegation (l to r): Marcos Espinal, Mario Raviglione, Fernanda Teixeira (back), Jaap Broekmans, Irene Koek (back). |
Photo credits: Stop TB/WHO
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