Geneva, Switzerland - The Stop TB Partnership is calling on TB affected communities and representatives of vulnerable groups to ensure strong participation and engagement in the Global Fund processes and stands by ready to provide financial support through the Partnership's Technical Cooperation (TC) platform.

27 January 2015 - The challenges in addressing the implementation of comprehensive HIV, TB and viral hepatitis prevention and treatment activities in the Eastern Ukraine affected by the warfare is complicated and escalating every week. With damaged transport routes between the settlements and a critical humanitarian situation, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine (Alliance-Ukraine) continues to support the operations of HIV prevention projects on behalf of 13 regional NGOs. Alliance-Ukraine also provide lifesaving TB and MDR-TB drugs to support the National TB program.

20 January 2015 - Uganda - The introduction and WHO endorsement of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in 2010 revolutionized TB diagnosis. The assay's improved sensitivity and specificity compared with smear microscopy means it is able to confirm TB disease in smear negative patients. This provides a huge benefit to people living with HIV/AIDS who often test negative by smear microscopy. In addition, the Xpert MTB/RIF test reduces the time needed to diagnose resistance to rifampicin from six weeks to just two hours. In Uganda, the first GeneXpert system was placed in the National Referral Hospital in Mulago in 2011. Since then, the National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP) has installed 59 systems countrywide.

26 January 2015 - Ha Noi, Vietnam - In Vietnam, while key affected populations actively and strongly participate in HIV prevention, community's movement in TB control is rather quiet.

29 January 2015 -- Lima, Peru - Pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) causes the deaths of over 200,000 people globally each year. With an estimated 2,000 cases in 2013, Peru has the highest prevalence of MDR-TB in Latin America and the Caribbean and cases have significantly increased since 2009 . On December 13th 2014, Janssen, the pharmaceutical affiliate of Johnson & Johnson, received approval for SIRTURO® (bedaquiline) from the Peruvian health authorities.

29 January 2015 - New Delhi, India -- On January 14, 2015, The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved SIRTURO® (bedaquiline) for use in adults (>18 years) as part of combination therapy of pulmonary tuberculosis due to multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTR-TB), when an effective treatment regimen cannot otherwise be provided.

16 January 2015 -- Nairobi, Kenya -- The way we seek to help and treat people living with HIV, the TB/HIV co-infection or those suffering from TB requires a systematic assessment from a gender perspective. It is essential that in order to succeed in the fight against TB, men, boys, women, girls and transgender people have an equal access to health services. Unless we take gender into consideration, such access may not be possible.

For World TB Day 2015, partners will continue to call for a global effort to find, treat and cure all people with TB and accelerate progress towards the bold goal of ending TB by 2035.

16 December 2014 - Geneva, Switzerland - Latvia holding the Presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2015 will host the first European ministerial conference on tuberculosis and drug resistance on the 31st of March in Riga.

15 December 2014 – Geneva, Switzerland – TB technical experts and civil society representatives from eight country groups, as well as experts from WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, met today to lay the foundation for an ambitious Global Plan to Stop TB 2016-2020.