WHO European Ministerial Forum: "All against Tuberculosis" (Berlin, 2007)

The WHO Regional Office for Europe held the WHO European Ministerial Forum on Tuberculosis: “All against Tuberculosis” on 22 October 2007 in Berlin, Germany, to accelerate progress towards achieving the global targets for tuberculosis (TB) control in the WHO European Region and Target 8 of Millennium Development Goal 6, to “have halted and begun to reverse the incidence” of TB by 2015. Over 300 participants attended the Forum, including health ministers, justice ministers and high-level decisionmakers from 49 of the 53 Member States in the WHO European Region, along with representatives of other United Nations bodies, intergovernmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The participants discussed:

• the threat of TB in the Region
• the response in the Region and what needed to be done to fill the gaps in this response
• TB as a public health problem in national health systems
• mechanisms for both controlling or eliminating TB and securing the necessary resources for the task.

They accepted an offer of partnership from over 45 civil-society organizations. Finally, the participants adopted the Berlin Declaration on Tuberculosis to prompt further progress in the fight against TB in the WHO European Region.