WHO Global TB Programme welcomes appointment of UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis Dr Eric P. Goosby

20 JANUARY 2015 | Geneva | The Global TB Programme welcomes the decision by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint Dr Eric P Goosby as the new UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis (TB). Special Envoy Goosby brings a wealth of experience to the fight against this pressing infectious disease crisis which still claims millions of lives each year. “We are extremely pleased with the appointment of Special Envoy Goosby”, said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme. “Eric has been with us fighting against TB for many years and has mobilized much-needed resources to strengthen its care and control. Our WHO efforts to end TB will receive a much higher profile with Eric’s engagement”.

• Read the full statement
• Learn more about Special Envoy Eric Goosby

24 November 2014| STOCKHOLM - Government representatives, researchers, and financing partners from about 22 countries are meeting together in Stockholm over the next two days to participate in a World Health Organization consultation on research for tuberculosis (TB) elimination. WHO has co-organized this meeting with the Swedish medical university, Karolinska Institutet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden.

• More on this story

22 OCTOBER 2014 ¦ GENEVA - Recent intensive efforts to improve collection and reporting of data on tuberculosis (TB) are shedding new light on the epidemic, revealing that there are almost half a million more cases of the disease than previously estimated. The World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2014, published today, shows that 9 million people developed TB in 2013, and 1.5 million died, including 360 000 people who were HIV positive.

• Access the Global TB Report and Supplement
• Factsheet
  pdf, 521kb
• Infographic: TB Situation
  jpg, 2.09Mb
• Infographic: MDR-TB challenge
  jpg, 1.91Mb

19 May 2014 | Geneva | The World Health Assembly, convened annually by WHO at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva, passed a resolution approving with full support the new post-2015 Global TB Strategy with its ambitious targets. The strategy aims to end the global TB epidemic, with targets to reduce TB deaths by 95% and to cut new cases by 90% between 2015 and 2035, and to ensure that no family is burdened with catastrophic expenses due to TB.

• More on this story
• Factsheet: Post-2015 Global TB Strategy
  pdf, 721kb