TB/HIV Workgroups
The World Health Organization, CREATE's partner in policy and advocacy projects, has several TB and HIV working groups through the STOP TB Partnership.
See below the main groups and their role in the fight against TB and HIV.
The TB/HIV Working Group (WG) of the Stop TB Partnership was established in 2001 and its aim is to coordinate, monitor, advise, collect and share information around the global response to the HIV associated TB epidemic. The HIV pandemic presents a massive challenge to the global control of TB at all levels. Globally, TB is also the commonest presenting illness among people living with HIV (PLHIV) both before and after receiving ART.
The WHO believes a new shorter TB regimen will radically transform the fight against tuberculosis. Shortening the current six to eight-month treatment to two months or less will improve patient adherence, increase cure rates, and lessen the likelihood of patients developing drug resistance. New drugs will also benefit the growing number of people around the globe who are co-infected with TB and HIV, as well as those who have been exposed to TB but are not yet ill with disease.
In 1999, WHO established the Working Group on DOTS-Plus for MDR-TB (Multidrug-Resistant TB). The Working Group was renamed in May 2006 to the Stop TB Working Group on MDR-TB.
Five meetings of the Working Group have been conducted since 1999 in Peru (2001), Estonia (2002), France (2003 and 2005) and USA (2006). More than 500 people have been attending these meetings and are contributing to the work of the Working Group representing countries, bilateral and multilateral agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, community representatives, pharmaceutical industries and universities.
