ERS response to a Member State and stakeholder consultation on a draft proposal for an action plan to fight tuberculosis in the European Union

In response to a request from EU's Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou in March 2007, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, has developed a proposal for an action plan to fight tuberculosis (TB) in the EU.

It provides a strategic framework for direction on what needs to be done both in the near and longer term. The ECDC is currently in the process of consulting with both Member States and other stakeholders on the proposed draft action plan. The ERS represents an organisation with significant experience in the field of TB, and the Society delivered its response to the consultation on 14th December 2007.

Download the ERS official response of 14 December 2007 to the consultation on the draft Action Plan to fight TB in Europe.

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A European Declaration on Tuberculosis

On July 6, experts from the 32 countries of the WHO Europe region met in The Hague (The Netherlands) to discuss the need for a regional Declaration on Tuberculosis. This Declaration will be presented to EU Member States during the WHO European Ministerial Forum "All Against Tuberculosis".
The objectives of the Forum, which will take place in Berlin on October 22, are:

• to strengthen political commitment to implementing the WHO Stop TB Strategy throughout the Region and to include tuberculosis control within the strengthening of health systems;
• to obtain commitment from all Member States to ensure full and appropriate financing of tuberculosis control, in line with World Health Assembly resolution WHA 58.14 on sustainable financing for tuberculosis prevention and control;
• to adopt a European Regional Declaration on Tuberculosis; and
• to endorse the Stop TB Partnership for Europe.

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EU & TB

At a meeting with senior officials from Member State health authorities and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Commissioner Kyprianou has called for more EU level action against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

The annual report published by EuroTB showed an annual decrease of 2.5% in TB rates in the EU between 2001 and 2005, with a total number of 91,845 cases reported in the 27 Member States in 2005. The report also showed that rates of TB are increasing in certain population groups, in particular among persons infected with HIV/AIDS and people of foreign origin. Furthermore, in some Member States the number of cases of drug-resistant TB is increasing, reaching a total of 18% in the Baltic States.

The findings of the EuroTB report were presented by the ECDC at a scientific seminar in the European Parliament on March 22.
 see World TB Day