Ministerial meeting of high M/XDR-TB burden countries
Date: 1-3 April 2009
Place: Beijing, China
Ministers from countries with high burden of MDR-TB and XDR-TB will meet in Beijing to address the alarming threat of MDR-TB. The meeting is organized by WHO together with the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The aims of the ministerial meeting are:
- to build consensus and political commitment globally and in high M/XDR-TB burden countries; and
- to act immediately to scale up the prevention and management of MDR-TB and start developing five-year national strategic plans for MDR-TB, embedded within national TB and health sector plans.
The ministers will issue a call for action on M/XDR-TB to help strengthen health agendas and ensure that urgent and necessary commitments for actions and funding are made to prevent this impending epidemic. A preceding call for action by community representatives coming out of the Stop TB Partners Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in March 2009, will also be presented in Beijing.