Our work is focused on supporting the efforts of more than 1000 partners, so you won’t be surprised to hear that two of the things I value the most are shared ambition and shared commitment. As we come to the end of a busy week of events leading up to World TB Day, I’m pleased to say that both ambition and commitment have been in abundance.

1000 days to achieve international targets of 50% reductions in TB mortality and TB/HIV deaths by 2015

Health Ministers from several African countries and leaders of international agencies are meeting in Swaziland tomorrow where they will launch a fresh offensive against tuberculosis and TB among people with HIV.

The Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility has reduced the price of several second-line drugs it supplies for the treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) by up to 26% compared to 2011 prices, resulting in a decrease in the overall cost of treatment.

In a landmark event, nine major global health organizations joined representatives of African civil society platforms on 19 and 20 February in a meeting - More money for health, more health for the money - at the offices of the GAVI Alliance. At a lunchtime session, Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI; Lucica Ditiu, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership; Philippe Duneton, Deputy Executive Director of UNITAID; Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS; Linda Mafu, Head, Political and Civil Society Department at the Global Fund; and Thomas Teuscher, Deputy Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership agreed with the assembled civil society organizations on a common objective: joint efforts for domestic resource mobilization for health in Africa must be harmonized.

6 February - Geneva - A group of tuberculosis (TB) activists have issued a Declaration of Intent that commits them to restructuring the Community Task Force (CTF) into a broader global coalition to represent communities affected by TB, multidrug-resistant TB and TB/HIV.

05 February 2013 - Geneva - Community activists are gathering in Geneva this week to agree on the steps required to achieve greater community engagement in the fight against tuberculosis (TB).

31 January 2013 - Geneva - The United Nations has launched My World, a global survey that asks for people's opinion on the issues that should be prioritized in the post-2015 development agenda.

In the communiqué the health ministers place focus on tuberculosis, including multidrug-resistant TB and TB/HIV as major health threats in need of urgent attention.

10 January 2013 - Geneva - In January and early February, the Stop TB Partnership and WHO Stop TB Department will kick off the New Year with meetings and discussions in Geneva whose outcome could have an influential role in stimulating scaled up efforts on tuberculosis (TB).