3,000 researchers, health professionals, government officials and activists sectors to convene in Cape Town on 2–6 December 2015
2nd Global TB Summit to precede the conference
The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) will host its 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health this year on 2–6 December at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa. The Union World Conference on Lung Health is the premiere global conference for researchers, health programme managers, policy experts, advocates and other leaders working to address tuberculosis and other global health issues affecting people living in poverty. The conference is expected to draw about 3,000 speakers, researchers and delegates from more than 125 countries.
Principal speakers will include:
The Honourable Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi is the Minister of Health of the Government of South Africa and Chair of the Stop TB Partnership. He is also co-chair of the Global TB Caucus, an international network of parliamentarians working to eliminate tuberculosis that was founded at last year’s Union World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP is a Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs in the United Kingdom. He co-founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Tuberculosis (APPG TB) in the House of Commons in 2006 and is co-chair of the Global TB Caucus.
Dr Mark Dybul is the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the largest source of international funding for TB care. Prior to that, Dr Dybul was the United States Global AIDS Coordinator, in which capacity he led the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world’s largest humanitarian initiative against a single disease.
Dr Mario Raviglione has been Director of the World Health Organization’s Global TB Programme since 2003. A leading TB expert, he is responsible for setting norms, policies and standards on global TB control, coordinating technical support, monitoring the global situation and developing innovative interventions.
Dr Lucica Ditui is Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership, which consists of more than 1200 international organisations, countries, donors from the public and private sectors, and nongovernmental and governmental organisations. Its aim is to realize the goal of eliminating TB as a public health problem and, ultimately, to obtain a world free of TB.
Dr Anthony D Harries is The Union’s Senior Advisor and Director of the Department of Research, which includes its Centre for Operational Research and SORT-IT courses. Dr Harries spent more than 20 years in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing primarily on TB and HIV/AIDS. He is the author of hundreds of papers on these issues and is currently leading The Union’s work TB and diabetes.
“The Union World Conference on Lung Health is the place where those of us working to alleviate suffering from tuberculosis and other deadly lung diseases gather to share the latest research and the most recent discoveries from the field”, said Dr E Jane Carter, President of The Union. “With 2015 approaching and ushering in a new agenda for global health and international development, this will be The Union’s most important World Conference to date.”
The conference theme, “A New Agenda: Lung Health Beyond 2015” reflects the changing landscape of global public health, and the new era of action that will define the years ahead. The Millennium Development Goals reach their deadline at the end of 2015, and work will begin on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the new Post-2015 Development Agenda. In addition, the World Health Organization’s new Global “End TB” Strategy will enter its first year of implementation, while the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Plan to Stop TB will shift into its next phase, 2016–2020.
The five-day scientific programme will address how these new agendas will influence the inter-related fights against tuberculosis, HIV, lung disease and non-communicable diseases, as well as the global campaign for tobacco control. It will convene leaders from around the world and identify solutions for achieving success in the post-2015 era of global health and development.
Building global awareness and support are key to efforts to address TB, which kills 1.5 million people each year and is one of the oldest diseases known to affect humans, yet it remains little known and understood in many parts of the world.
“It came as a huge shock to me to discover the real danger that the TB pandemic represents to us all. It is necessary to act and act now”, said Emma Thompson, the award-winning actress who this year became the TB Ambassador for the City of London. Ms Thompson was personally affected by tuberculosis and its gruelling treatment process when her son was diagnosed with TB.
Action is the ultimate goal of the 2nd Global TB Summit on Monday, 30 November, which will bring together representatives from more than 20 countries to identify shared priorities for addressing TB across their respective countries and for pursing the research and development of the new tools, diagnostics and vaccines needed to eliminate the disease. This event follows on last year’s premiere summit, which culminated in the Barcelona Declaration to End TB now signed by more than 80 governments. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP will co-chair this pre-conference event.
“We need better tools to deal with the threat of TB, and to do that we need people to join forces across the world – regardless of political divides and cultural differences”, said Nick Herbert. “The Union World Conference on Lung Health inspires collaboration and networking among the experts, healthcare workers and civil society members on the ground who are integral to advancing the research and treating those in need. At the government level, the Global TB Summit brings elected representatives together to use their influence and leadership to demand more effective action against tuberculosis from governments to support those advances and extend their reach.”
Awards honouring outstanding research and other contributions to tuberculosis and lung disease will be presented at the World Conference, including the Karel Styblo Public Health Prize, The Union Scientific Prize, The Union Young Investigator Prize, The Union/Otsuka Young Innovator in TB Research Award, the Princess Chichibu Global Memorial TB Award given by the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association and the Stop TB Partnership’s Kochon Prize.
All conference events will take place at Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa, unless otherwise noted.
Media registration:
Members of the media wishing to register for the conference can do so at: http://capetown.worldlunghealth.org/media/press-cred
Conference registration: https://capetown.theunion.org/login
Conference website: www.worldlunghealth.org