Title:

WHO European Ministerial, Forum:“All against Tuberculosis” Organized by WHO/Europe and hosted by the Government of Germany

Duration and location:

22 October 2007, at the Hilton Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Purpose:

Its purpose was to accelerate progress towards achieving the global targets for tuberculosis (TB) control in the WHO European Region, and Target 8 of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6: "to have halted and begun to reverse the incidence of TB by 2015."

Objectives:

The Forum's objectives were:

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

TB is a real threat to public health across the European Region, where in 2005 nearly half a million people had TB and there were 66 000 TB-related deaths. The Ministerial Forum represented a much needed opportunity to tackle this threat.

Outcomes:

The outcomes were:

• increased awareness of TB as a real public health threat in all Member States;
• political commitment from all Member States to achieving the MDG target on TB;
• a call to implement regional and national plans in accordance with the Plan to Stop TB in 18 high-priority countries of the WHO European Region, 2007-2015 and the European Union Action Plan on TB;
• commitment to securing increased and sustained national budgets, including from the donor community, to achieve the MDG target on TB; and
• endorsement of a European regional declaration on TB to guide future action in Europe.