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Research from The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease; Damien Foundation and Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp proves decisive in ground breaking announcement

  12 May 2016 (Paris, France) – Today the World Health Organization (WHO)…

A milestone for the TB community: a message from José Luis Castro

Today (12 May), the World Health Organization announced new recommendations for a nine-month shortened treatment regimen for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients.  Years of research…

The European Court of Justice today ruled that the EU Tobacco Products Directive [TPD] is valid, rejecting the multiple legal challenges it has attracted since its adoption in 2014. The TPD, drawn up to increase protections for public health, will now come into force on 20…

A message from José Luis Castro on World Asthma Day 2016

Today on World Asthma Day on Tuesday 3 May is a moment to reflect on why lung diseases continue to occupy a place that is considerably lower down the global public health agenda than other health indicators such…

Monicah Andefa has been at the centre of some of The Union’s largest projects since she joined the organisation in 2008. With the exception of one current Challenge TB site in India, her work has been in different African countries, “Since I’m African, I’m especially…

The Union Office in Myanmar hosted its annual New Year’s celebration in early April for 200 children who are HIV positive and receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) through the Integrated HIV Care (IHC) Programme. The festivities included a dance performance, in which the…

The PATB network is a support network for people affected by tuberculosis (TB) that brings together members of the community to share their experiences with one another and help each other adhere to treatment. The Union has supported the PATB network in Myanmar since 2012, as…

Union technical staff have organised the first-ever international multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) course on the shortened nine-month treatment regimen in Cameroon in April 2016.

The Union has been using an operational research method to test this shortened…

The TB-Free India campaign hosted a two-day interactive workshop in April in New Delhi to empower cured tuberculosis (TB) patients to share  their personal stories and experiences to advocate for better TB prevention, treatment and care in India.

The workshop,…

A Union led pilot project in India - which uses web-based software to provide real time case reporting and treatment adherence support to TB patients treated in the private sector - has reported that 95 percent of patients under the project are adhering to treatment.

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New research identifies 31 factors that national tobacco control programmes need in order to be sustainable. Published now in the BMJ's Tobacco Control, authors at The Union draw on ten years’ experience assisting governments around the world to build programmes to…

After a two-year battle, a ground-breaking development for public health has seen graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging in India quadruple in size. Harrowing images of the health consequences of tobacco use must now be displayed across 85 percent of the surface area of…

This World Health Day, 7 April, The Union calls on the global health community to confront the rising rates of diabetes mellitus. For this year’s event, the World Health Organization (WHO) will highlight the need to address the growing global diabetes epidemic by launching…

The government of Brazil, in partnership with The Union, has launched an online observatory to protect and strengthen tobacco control policies by monitoring tobacco industry interference, the first such government-run initiative in the region.

The centre-piece of the…

Dr Terry-Nan Tannenbaum, public health physician, passionate anti-TB advocate and former President of The Union North America Region (NAR), passed away on 17 March 2016 after a battle with cancer.

Terry’s distinguished career in public health included serving as…

Pakistan has taken a major step towards banning all tobacco advertising after tobacco giant, Philip Morris Pakistan, withdrew its petition to Sindh High Court challenging a 2014 statutory regulatory order (SRO) that closes loopholes in the existing ban.

Philip Morris…

Today the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data showing that tuberculosis is on the rise throughout the US for the first time in over two decades. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia registered an increase in TB cases from 2014 to…

At a Government of India and World Health Organization event in New Delhi this week, India’s Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri J P Nadda launched new initiatives to challenge tuberculosis (TB) in India – including a radio campaign developed by The Union as…

A message from José Luis Castro for World TB Day

Last month, US President Barack Obama’s administration proposed a cut of 19% to USAID’s budget to combat tuberculosis. This comes just a few short weeks after the announcement of the US government’s much-lauded…

Dr Paula I Fujiwara knows all too well what happens when funds for tuberculosis programmes are slashed and systems for TB control atrophy. As New York City’s Deputy Health Commissioner in the 1990s, she led the response to the worst outbreak of multidrug-resistant TB…

In the past 40 years, only two new medications for tuberculosis have been introduced, ­­so agreements to make them available where they are needed most – in the high-burden countries – are critically important.

On 25 February, Otsuka Pharmaceutical announced that…

Amit can still remember the young woman standing alone outside the Primary Health Centre in a rural district of Haryana, India. Her family had thrown her out of the house when she was diagnosed with TB, and had since cut off her contact with her children. As Amit shared this…

The Union offices in Zimbabwe and Uganda have begun work on integrated tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus (TB-DM) care in the two countries through a two-year grant from the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF).

High-level stakeholders from both countries met last month in…

A message from José Luis Castro for World TB Day

Last month, US President Barack Obama’s administration proposed a cut of 19% to USAID’s budget to combat tuberculosis. This comes just a few short weeks after the announcement of the US government’s much-lauded…

At the 20th Conference of The Union North America Region in Denver, Colorado last month, Dr Wanda Walton received one of the region’s highest accolades – the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr Walton is Chief of the Communications, Education and Behavioral Studies Branch…