Today, on the first day of the sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, WHO/Europe and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria exchanged letters and initiated a joint operational plan for 2011/2012.
“In view of the current complex health challenges the European Region is facing, cooperation between WHO/Europe and the Global Fund needs to be more strategic. We are committed to strengthening our relations and continuing to assist countries in accessing grants and using resources in the best possible way,” said Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
The joint operational plan for 2011/2012 has three main objectives, to:
On Sunday, ministers from high-burden tuberculosis countries, experts from WHO/Europe and Michel D. Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund, met to discuss the achievements and challenges in the governance, financing and implementation of drug-resistant tuberculosis prevention and treatment. Despite the challenges, ministers explained that they have introduced national programmes to address multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and recognize the importance of free diagnosis and treatment that targets high-risk groups, such as intravenous drug users, homeless people, prisoners, sex workers, those with HIV/AIDS, and in some cases migrants.
Action plans for tackling both HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in the 53 countries of the WHO European Region will be discussed later this week at the sixty-first session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
WHO Europe