DOTS Expansion Working Group - History

The Ministerial Conference on Tuberculosis & Sustainable Development held on 24 March 2000 convened by the Stop TB Partnership in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, adopted the Amsterdam Declaration to Stop TB. Ministers of Health of the 20 high-burden countries, comprising 80% of the global TB burden, called for an expanded coverage of the populations of these countries with the WHO-recommended strategy to combat tuberculosis (DOTS) detecting at least 70% of infectious cases by the year 2005. To achieve this goal, the Ministerial Conference called upon the international development partners from the United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and foundations to increase their support to tuberculosis control efforts in order to produce and/or strengthen national development plans that incorporate health development and tuberculosis control as essential components.

Following the Ministerial Conference, WHO organized "The International Workshop to Accelerate DOTS Expansion", in Cairo on 22-23 November 2000 to:

  • Review with the 22 high-burden countries, WHO and other Stop TB partners the actions taken since the Ministerial Conference held in Amsterdam;
  • Review the national and medium-term action plans for reaching the WHO global targets and identify actions needed to adopt and implement the plans;
  • Identify technical and financial resources required;
  • Promote country specific partnerships to support country plans; and,
  • Consolidate the national and regional plans in a global plan of collaboration among countries and partners to expand DOTS.

To achieve these objectives, efforts need to be coordinated and work in partnership with other institutions of recognized experience and prestige promoted. A Working Group named "DOTS Expansion" was therefore established by the Stop TB Partnership.

Two subgroups of the DEWG were established in 2002, namely the laboratory strengthening subgroup and the public-private mix subgroup. A third, the childhood TB subgroup, was established in 2003. The fourth subgroup on TB and Poverty was established in 2004.