On the evening of 25 October, WHO organized a meeting of multi-country research networks to discuss their role in advancing tuberculosis (TB) research. Representatives of six TB research networks from different parts of the world attended the meeting: the West African Regional Network for TB control (WARN-TB, launched in 2015); the European Tuberculosis Research Initiative (ERI-TB, launched in 2016); the BRICS TB Research Network (launched in 2017); the Central African Regional Network for TB control (CARN-TB, launched in 2018); the TB Research Cooperation Network in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TB-EECA, launched in 2018); and the future Asian-Pacific TB Research and Innovation Network.
Along with these networks, several donor agencies and international TB innovative product development agencies attended the meeting.
Research networks representatives presented current activities, discussed common goals and explored avenues for future collaboration. The role of TB R&D was discussed in the context of the recently adopted political declaration of the UN high-level meeting on the fight to end TB. WHO reiterated its commitment to facilitate cooperation and development of TB research networks to accelerate TB research and innovation in countries.