26 October 2014 - Barcelona, Spain - The Global TB Summit, an inaugural meeting bringing together elected parliamentarians from across the world, will take place for the first time on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 October, a few days prior to the 45th Union World Conference on Lung Health, in Barcelona.
Co-organized by The Union and the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB, the Summit aims to galvanise political will to tackle tuberculosis and create a clear vision for the role of parliamentarians in combatting the epidemic.
MPs from nine different countries drawn from both developed and developing countries, who share a particular interest in TB, will work together to identify shared priorities for addressing current TB bottlenecks in implementation and scale up, and for pursuing the research and development of new medicines, diagnostics and vaccines needed to eliminate the disease.
The Summit will lead to the foundation of a Global TB Caucus, a globe-spanning network of parliamentarians working in unison to drive the necessary political will to fight the disease.
The Summit will be opened by José Luis Castro, Executive Director of The Union, and Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health for South Africa and Chair of the Stop TB Partnership.