26 June - New Delhi, India - A panel discussion was held earlier this week on tackling tuberculosis in BRICS countries as part of the event to launch the WHO Bulletin special issue on BRICS. The BRICS focussed issue of the WHO Bulletin has a perspective paper on TB called Tuberculosis in BRICS: challenges and opportunities for leadership within the post-2015 agenda.
Speaking at the panel discussion, Dr Suvanand Sahu, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership said that close to half of the burden of TB is shared by the BRICS countries. "BRICS countries are also leading the way in developing new approaches and tools to address the challenges faced by their respective countries, and committing domestic resources for scaling up of TB care. The BRICS countries are expected to play a significant role in the implementation of the post-2015 TB agenda," he added.
The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Achuthan Sreenivas from the WHO country office and speakers included Dr R S Gupta and Dr K S Sachdeva from the National TB Programme of India, Dr Puneet Dewan from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr William Wells from USAID in Washington D.C. and Dr Patrick Mullen from the World Bank.
Additionally, Dr Sahu conveyed the perspectives of Dr Draurio Bareira of Brazil and Dr Yogan Pillay of South Africa. Panellists spoke on electronic notification systems, private sector TB care, drug resistant TB, urban TB control, health system strengthening, financing TB responses in BRICS, including link with UHC, and the role of BRICS countries in research and shaping the market for TB drugs and diagnostics.
The two day event in New Delhi to launch the special WHO Bulletin on the theme of ‘BRICS and Global Health’ is highlighted here.