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• At the 71st session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee Meeting for the Western Pacific, being held virtually from 6-9 October, The Union published a statement highlighting how COVID-19 related lockdown measures are creating barriers in accessing…

They will address the opening ceremony of the 51st Union World Conference on Lung Health, taking place virtually 20-24 October 2020. TB survivors Tamaryn Green and Divya Sojan will also speak of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those…

• The 8th President's Centennial Dinner took place on 29 October 2019 at the Taj Falaknuma Palace, in Hyderabad, India, on the eve of the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health.

  Located 2,000 feet above the city of Hyderabad, the Taj Falaknuma Palace is…

• The 7th President's Centennial Dinner took place on 23 October 2018 in the Ridderzaal, ‘Hall of Knights’, part of the Binnenhof, the Dutch parliamentary buildings in The Hague. 

  This beautiful thirteenth century building has a significant place in…

• The 6th President's Centennial Dinner took place in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday, 10 October 2017.

  The dinner was held in the Hospicio Cabañas, a UNESCO world heritage site in the historic downtown of Guadalajara. This stunning building is one of the…

• Founded 100 years ago, The Union is the world’s very first global health nonprofit. The Union is the only organization that collects scientific evidence, translates that evidence into new solutions, and then sees those solutions implemented widely in the real world.

• The 5th President’s Centennial Dinner took place at Liverpool Cathedral, on Tuesday, 25 October 2016. Over 170 Union supporters gathered to celebrate its 96-year history and appreciate the classic beauty of the Cathedral.

  Read more about the Dinner.

  See…

• The 4th President’s Centennial Dinner took place at the Cavalli Wine and Stud Farm in Somerset West, near Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday, 2 December 2015. Union supporters gathered to celebrate its 95-year history and enjoy the renowned Cavalli vineyards, gardens,…

• The 3rd President’s Centennial Dinner took place on Tuesday, 28 October 2014, during the 45th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Barcelona, Spain. Close to 250 people enjoyed cocktails on the plaza of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Parc de Montjüic,…

• The reputation of the President’s Dinner as an event not to be missed during the World Conference grew in 2013. The second dinner in Paris, France attracted a capacity crowd of 200 to the elegant Cercle National des Armées on Wednesday, 30 October 2013.

  Long-time…

• The Centennial Campaign was launched on 13 November 2012 at the 1st President’s Centennial Dinner in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Envisioned as a series of dinners held each year in conjunction with the World Conference, this first event created momentum for years ahead. …

• Corporations, foundations and individuals can all invest in the Centennial Campaign, recognising that millions of lives have been improved and saved through The Union's work in its first 100 years – and that many millions more will benefit over the coming decades. As we…

• The Union faculty and staff are ready to help you design courses and curriculum to meet your specific training needs. With expertise in the clinical, programmatic, and organisational management of diseases, our team has designed programmes for some of the leading lung health…

• Mrs Lara Garrido-Herrero, Director of Training and Education Mrs Caroline Bennett, eLearning Coordinator Dr Sandy Picken, Instructional Designer

• The Union World Conference on Lung Health has long been a trusted and vital meeting place for all those working in tuberculosis (TB) and lung health. With the ever-persistent threat of COVID-19 worldwide, creating a space for our community to gather, share and learn…

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us to think outside the box and change the way services are delivered to meet patient needs. These may just become the new “best practices”.

• Today, on World Lung Day, The Union joins with members of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) and other partner organisations to advocate for respiratory health globally and call for more research to prevent, detect and treat respiratory…

• The Union, in collaboration with its global community of members, hosts an ongoing open-access webinar series on tuberculosis, tobacco control, COVID-19 and other lung diseases.

  Below are all the webinars, past and present, that focus on tuberculosis.

  Learn from…

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• The Union runs fee-based courses which help develop clinical expertise, management skills and the ability to discover solutions through research and advocacy.

  Upcoming courses focus on the clinical and programmatic aspects of tuberculosis (TB), multidrug-…

• The Union provides educational support to develop clinical expertise, management skills and the ability to discover solutions through research and advocacy. As well as our established series of in-person courses, The Union also offers tailored, custom courses and a…

• Progress made in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) is in danger of being derailed and even reversed completely according to the latest report from The Global Fund.

  Published last Monday (September 14) The Global Fund Results 2020 Report states that…

• You can also download a copy of The Union’s Privacy and Cookies Policy.

  Who we are What personal data do we collect? How do we use your personal data? What is our legal basis for processing your personal data? Who do we share your personal data with? What are…

• The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) is an international non-governmental organisation, registered as a charity in France as an “Association Loi 1901”, meaning that our work is not-for-profit and carried out for the public good. The Union’…

• We collect personal data from you in a variety of ways, detailed here.

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• The Union uses the personal data we collect for a number of purposes, including but not limited to:

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  We work to ensure that these recipients follow this policy and provide protection,…

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  We also take care to ensure we…

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  Your personal data is retained for the duration of your relationship with The Union…

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• For general enquiries on your personal data rights, you can contact us by email privacy@theunion.org or by post:

  The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, (The Union), I.T. Department, 2 Rue Jean Lantier, 75001 Paris, France.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Shannon Hader, and Katherine Maher, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, and Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of Jordan will speak at the conference.

In the context of the global pandemic, there is an urgent need for research that elucidates the relationship between COVID-19 and TB, the adoption of strategies that protect TB patients from infection by SARS-CoV-2, and the adoption and/or…

Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of Jordan, Katherine Maher, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Shannon Hader and Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID will all speak at the 51st Union World Conference on…

• Protocol for The impact of COVID-19 on TB and HIV services: A public health surveillance project in three African countries

  The Union’s Centre for Operational Research has made publicly available a protocol for a project in sub-Saharan Africa to…

• In this video, you will learn how to disinfect your hands properly.

  Gloves are worn to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases between patients and healthcare providers by preventing contact with blood and other body fluids. Read the fact sheet for…

• In this video, you will learn how to put on and to remove properly a surgical mask.

  You can also read the fact sheet.

• In this video, you will learn how to properly put on and take off an N95 respirator.

  You can also read the fact sheet.

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is particular clothing or equipment designed to protect people and keep them safe during exposures to infectious agents or harmful materials such as chemicals used for cleaning and disinfecting. Read the fact sheet for wearing and removing…

• Between May 2020 and August 2021, The Union’s Tobacco Control Department produced a "living," regularly revised master brief and ten shorter scientific briefs on COVID-19 and smoking. The master brief answers key questions about COVID-19 and smoking; it also delineates three…

• COVID-19 and Smoking: Frequently Asked Questions

  Download COVID-19 and Smoking: FAQs version 3 in English, français (French), español (Spanish), русский (Russian), polski (Polish), 日本語 (Japanese) and 中文…

• The novel coronavirus-19 (nCoV-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new coronavirus that was only recently discovered in 2019. The virus causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

  Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by …

• Membership to The Union means you are part of a movement of professionals who work together to drive positive action for lung health. We help give your work a voice in the halls of government and in the news media as we drive a global advocacy agenda. We work tirelessly to…

• COVID-19 and TB are both respiratory infections that can be transmitted by a person with the disease who may release pathogens into the air when breathing out. These pathogens can then be inhaled into the respiratory tract of another person.

  TB pathogen causes…

• When we look at the infectivity of an agent, we usually refer to the reproductive number (R0 value) which can describe the transmission of an infectious disease. The R0 value gives a number of how many people a person with the disease can pass the infection on to.…

• Both COVID-19 and TB cause respiratory symptoms – cough and shortness of breath. Both cause fever and weakness. One of the biggest differences is the speed of onset. TB symptoms do not tend to occur immediately after infection and when they develop, are of a gradual onset,…

• The data regarding COVID-19 are changing daily (check the WHO Situational Dashboard for the latest figures), including the number of deaths due to COVID-19 which are increasing daily. About 1.5 million people died from TB in 2018 and, of this total, over…

• Currently there is no recommended drug treatment for COVID-19, and treatment for COVID-19 is managed by addressing a person’s symptoms. There is a large therapeutics trial, the SOLIDARITY trial, which may give more details on drug treatments for COVID-19, and many…

• As discussed above, the symptoms of COVID-19 can be similar to those of TB, with fever, cough, and shortness of breath among the symptoms, but there is usually a difference in the speed that the symptoms start. COVID-19 symptoms are likely to be of a more rapid onset.

  …

• The gold standard for both TB and COVID-19 is a microbiological confirmation, i.e. confirming the presence of either the TB bacteria or the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

  Tests for TB usually include testing sputum for TB bacteria. The preferred tests are rapid molecular tests,…

• As COVID-19 is so new, there is little data available on if those with TB or those who have a previous history of TB are more at risk of worse COVID-19 outcomes, but some early evidence from China does show worse outcomes and more severe COVID-19 disease for those with TB.…

• People who have been in contact with someone with TB and who are well and do not show any signs or symptoms, may have TB infection, sometimes also referred to as latent TB. People with TB infection do not spread TB bacteria. Almost 2 billion people have TB infection…

• Evidence to date suggests that children and adolescents (0-19 years) are less susceptible than adults to severe COVID-19 disease.

  If your child is on TB treatment, as with adults, it is important that he/she continues and completes treatment. To minimise the child’s…

• Wearing a mask presents a barrier for the spread of both TB and COVID-19 pathogens as masks stop them being distributed into the air or infecting surfaces with respiratory droplets if being worn by someone who has symptoms. Masks can also reduce the chances of the wearer…

• There are guidelines regarding the management of TB in emergencies that can help countries plan to ensure that TB services remain operational. It is very important that national TB services continue, and that people have access to diagnostic services, treatments and…

• WHO has released guidance for TB programmes on how to continue their programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  The Infectious Diseases Society of Southern Africa also released some pragmatic and immediately implementable approaches for TB services,…

• There are concerns regarding global supply of medications.  Currently, none of the first-line TB drugs are being used for the management of COVID-19, and as such there is not expected to be a re-directing of the medications themselves to people with COVID-19. High burden…

• Social distancing is a type of measure used by public health officials to slow down or stop the spread of a disease, especially to allow healthcare systems a chance to ensure care can be offered to everyone who needs it. For social distancing, people are advised to stay …

• SARS-CoV-2 is a very new virus and we are learning new things about it every day with regards to how it spreads, how we can protect ourselves from it, treatments that may be able to prevent you from falling ill or treat you if you become unwell with COVID-19. The best way to…

• The BCG vaccine has been used against TB for the last 100 years. The BCG is the most widely administered vaccine in the world, although a number of low burden TB countries no longer routinely give the BCG as part of their national immunisation programme. BCG does not offer…

• Individuals with TB have a significantly higher risk for depression than the general population due to multiple reasons and these feelings are likely to be made worse during this time. It is very normal to feel anxious, stressed or fearful during a time of uncertainty and…

• We have learned from our experience with TB of the effects of stigma on people with or at risk of disease and the importance of the language we use when describing the illness. We have seen the similar use of stigmatising language by the media and others when discussing…

• The novel coronavirus-19 (nCoV-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new coronavirus that was only recently discovered in 2019. The virus causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These questions relate to smoking, but you can also read…

• There is substantial evidence that smoking negatively impacts lung health, inhibits the body’s responsiveness to infections, and suppresses immunity. Sound epidemiological evidence that smoking increases the risk of viral lung and throat infections led researchers…

• To date, scientists have not reached consensus on this issue though some data do support this hypothesis. It is also important to note that almost every study on this issue suffers some sort of major flaw—whether in design or by virtue of the fact that it is pending peer…

• Because vaping is still a relatively new practice, research is limited on its health effects, and it has not yet been determined if the practice contributes to conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There is, however, emerging evidence that exposure to the…

• There is no disputing that quitting smoking is difficult and that nicotine withdrawal is uncomfortable, but there has never been a better or more urgent time to stop using tobacco.

  The good news—and the really encouraging piece—is that while it is difficult to undo…

• First, and perhaps foremost, governments have an obligation to make smokers aware that they may be at increased risk for both COVID-19 and adverse disease progression. This is particularly important in the low- and middle-income countries where The Union works, and where many…

• Membership to The Union means you are part of a movement of professionals who work together to drive positive action for lung health. We help give your work a voice in the halls of government and in the news media as we drive a global advocacy agenda. We work tirelessly to…

• The Union’s Tobacco Control Department has produced five factsheets on critical aspects of tobacco control: COVID-19 and Tobacco; E-cigarettes, Heated Tobacco Products, and the Need for Bans in LMICs; Tobacco Control Implementation and Enforcement; Novel…

Technical guides on TB, tobacco control, lung health and more, written by experts.