WHO/Europe, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation are convening a meeting of the European Tuberculosis Network to discuss the rebirth of the Wolfheze movement – a long-standing European collaboration on tuberculosis (TB) and lung health – to strengthen TB programmes in the WHO European Region.
The objectives of the meeting are to:
- reaffirm the Wolfheze movement as a regional platform that unites governments, WHO, ECDC, KNCV, civil society and technical agencies in the fight against TB;
- reflect on the current operational challenges – including war, humanitarian crises, economic instability and shrinking donor funding – and their impact on TB responses across the Region;
- identify ways to leverage the strengths of diverse actors, building complementarities across technical assistance, implementation and advocacy;
- explore joint approaches to fundraising and resource mobilization, positioning TB and lung health within the broader agendas of global health security and universal health coverage; and
- agree on concrete next steps for collaboration, using existing platforms and mechanisms of WHO, ECDC, KNCV and other partners to ensure efficiency and avoid duplication.
About the Wolfheze movement
For over three decades, the Wolfheze movement has leveraged workshops to provide a unique platform for aligning TB policy and practice across the Region. Since 1990, the platforms have fostered the so-called Wolfheze consensus, enabling countries to work together to translate global recommendations into regional solutions.
The 2022 edition, held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted both the resilience and adaptability of the platform. It focused on the pandemic’s impact on TB services; the potential of digital health tools; the rollout of shorter, all-oral regimens for drug-resistant TB; and the need for cross-border collaboration, especially to protect vulnerable groups such as migrants.