Thursday, March 20, 2014 - 08:00 to 09:15
Representation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU, Brussels

Join us at this lunch debate to discuss: - the rising incidence of MDR-TB in the European region - the need for more effective treatments, new vaccines and better diagnostics - what needs to be done at European level Why this event? Tuberculosis is back, and it can be more deadly than before.

Over the last half century, therapies have contained TB, and vaccination programmes and better health management and hygiene have controlled it. But strained social conditions and deficiencies in health infrastructure are limiting the effectiveness of the customary approaches, in Europe and beyond. And new highly resistant variants are emerging that current therapies cannot treat.

Treatment effectiveness is relatively low with only around a third of confirmed cases having successful outcomes after 24 months.

So new answers are needed - new therapies that offer shorter and easier to follow treatments for classic TB, new therapies to combat the new variants, new vaccines to provide better protection, faster and more accurate diagnostics, more effective and comprehensive data collection and monitoring.

This is why EV is organising an event on 20 March under the title "Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis: how is Europe responding to the new challenge?" The event takes place just before World TB Day on 24 March.

Leading politicians, officials, researchers and civil society organizations will explore how far Europe has acknowledged the urgency, what it has done so far about finding solutions, and what it can do to move faster.

The event will see the launch of a research report on MDR-TB written by Peter O'Donnell, European Voice's associate editor.

Speakers: Martin Seychell, deputy director-general, DG SANCO Fanny Voitzwinkler, co-ordinator, TB Coalition Europe Dr Adrian Thomas, vice-president, health of global public health, Janssen Prof. Dr Robert Loddenkemper, former president, European Respiratory Society Claudiu Tanasescu MEP Dr Roberto Bertollini, chief scientist and representative of WHO to the EU

Full Programme