Fifteenth Meeting of National TB Programme Managers and Partners, 6-9 December 2011

The 15th Meeting of the National TB Programme Managers and Partners of the WHO South-East Asia Region was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 6- 9 December 2011.  The general objectives of the meeting were to further strengthen and improve implementation of the Stop TB Strategy towards achieving TB targets as per the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in all Member countries. Participants from the national TB programmes in Member countries of the Region, representatives from technical agencies, and WHO TB staff from the HQ, SEARO and Country offices, attended this 4-day meeting.

The participants were welcomed by Dr Paijit Warachit, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand.  Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, opened the meeting. The Regional Director emphasized the need for “multi-stakeholder involvement” in TB, which attributed “to about 25% increase in case notification and to more than 90% of the treatment success rate”.  He further added that "community-based care and services" are essential for sustained achievements in long-term TB control. Regional Directors Address [PDF 37 KB]

The discussions highlighted that countries in the WHO South East Asia (SEA) Region have made significant progress towards the TB-related MDGs as shown in the below table. 

However, TB control remains a significant challenge.  Approximately 40% of the estimated number of cases (8.8 million)globally, and more than one-third of the global MDR-TB burden, are in the SEA Region (based on current estimates).