CDC History of Tuberculosis Control - Medical and Public Health ...

agencies, major donors to the health sector,
government health ministries, academia, and
civil society, we have wondered, Where is TB?
Why is TB on the back burner? The STOP
TB Initiative is a global campaign to move TB
to the FRONT BURNER.
Why now?
With the arrival last year of the new Director
General of the World Health Organization
(WHO), Dr. Gro Brundtland, there has been
an interest in intensifying the relationship
between WHO and its global partners. For a
number of diseases, but especially for malaria
and TB, WHO has initiated campaigns to join
forces with other agencies and donors in the
public and private sectors to achieve global
health objectives.
Additional factors have added fuel to the
sparks of this new campaign. Over the past
several years the World Bank has given an
unprecedented number of loans to developing
countries to strengthen TB control efforts and
has established TB as one of its top priority
diseases. There has been renewed interest in
TB research in the areas of vaccine
development, new drug development, and new
diagnostics. Large donors such as the Soros
and Gates Foundations have shown an interest
and commitment to TB control and TB
research. The stars are aligned.
In November 1998, at the annual meeting of
the International Union Against Tuberculosis
and Lung Disease held in Bangkok, Thailand,
Dr. Brundtland launched the STOP TB
Initiative, a WHO-led global partnership
whose mission is to put TB higher on the
Notable Events in TB Control
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international public health agenda and to
substantially increase the investment in TB
worldwide. It aims to increase involvement of
international players at all levels, including
international health agencies, donor agencies,
governments, nongovernmental organizations,
professional societies, and community
organizations involved in TB at the country
level. The focus of the initiative is on the 22
so-called “high-burden” countries which
WHO has identified as responsible for
approximately 80% of all reported cases of TB
in the world. These include India, China,
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria,
Philippines, South Africa, Ethiopia (Fed.
Democratic Republic of), Viet Nam, Russian
. Federation, Congo (Democratic Republic),
Brazil, Tanzania (United Republic of), Kenya,
Thailand, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Uganda,
Peru, Zimbabwe, and Cambodia. In addition,
countries with extremely high rates of TB,
especially those impacted by the HIV
epidemic, will be targeted.
The STOP TB Initiative will focus attention
on addressing the specific constraints to action
on TB identified at the London Ad Hoc
Committee Meeting on the Global TB
Epidemic held in March 1998. The needs
identified at this meeting include political will
and commitment, human resource
development, a secure supply of quality anti-
TB drugs, research, financing, organization
and management, information systems, and
health sector reform.
The founding partners of the STOP TB
Initiative are the WHO, the Royal
Netherlands TB Association (KNCV), the
International Union Against TB and Lung
Disease, the World Bank, the American Lung
Association, the American Thoracic Society,
and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. New partners include UNICEF,
UNAIDS, the National Institutes of Health,
the Japan Anti-TB Association, the
Norwegian Heart and Lung Association, the
Canadian International Development Agency,