European Tuberculosis Research Initiative - the fifth meeting of the core group, 11 March 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark

The European Tuberculosis Research Initiative (ERI-TB) was launched by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in 2016 to advance tuberculosis (TB) research in the WHO European Region. It was intended as a platform to build the capacity Member States of the WHO European Region to implement operational research, which is considered an important source for evidence-informed TB programme management and relevant policy decision-making. ERI-TB's activities are prioritized and overseen by its core group, while the ERI-TB Secretariat (located at the Regional Office) is responsible for their primary implementation. During its first three years, ERI-TB made good progress in setting Regional TB research priorities and building Member States' capacity to implement operational research. In November–December 2019 the ERI-TB Secretariat organized the selection of 15 new core group members to succeed the outgoing members, whose mandate had come to an end. This report summarizes the discussions and actions from the fifth meeting of the ERI-TB core group, held on 11 March 2020, including the introduction of new ERI-TB core group members, the presentation ERI-TB's achievements during 2016–2019, and discussions on the revision of ERI-TB's terms of reference and the prioritization of ERI-TB activities for 2020–2022.