Interregional workshop on tuberculosis control and care Interregional workshop for tuberculosis (TB) control and care among refugee and migrant populations

With the support of the Ministry of Health of Italy, WHO/Europe organized an interregional workshop on tuberculosis (TB) control and care among refugees and migrant populations in Catania, Italy, on 10–11 May 2016.

The workshop was attended by national and international health experts from low to intermediate TB incidence countries of the WHO European Region, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen, as well as staff from WHO headquarters and regional TB advisers and representatives from the European, Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions, and representatives of the Australian Immigration Department, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the European Respiratory Society, the International Organization for Migration, the Global Fund and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The workshop facilitated an exchange of experience among the countries on their current practices for the management of TB among refugees and migrant populations. It also provided an updated overview of TB-relevant policies and practices with a focus on two recently developed tools for TB screening and cross-border TB control and care. The event also helped to identify the priorities for future research on TB control and care among refugees and migrant populations.

A report on the workshop will be published shortly.