On 19 February, an online meeting was held to discuss improving access to and availability of medicines for the treatment of TB and drug-resistant TB in Europe.
During the meeting, organized by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, participants discussed:
- updated data on the epidemiology of TB and MDR/XDR-TB in the European Region;
- opportunities for joint procurement of TB medicines;
- updates from the Global Drug Facility and the Stop TB Partnership;
- initiatives and upcoming events from international organizations Médecins Sans Frontières and the Global TB Caucus.
During the meeting, Paul Sommerfeld, Chair of the Board of the TB Europe Coalition, presented proposals from communities and civil society regarding access to TB medicines in Western European countries. He also introduced the current activities and future plans of the EU Medicines Access Working Group, which brings together more than 20 representatives of European civil society organizations.
Importantly, during the meeting representatives of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority of the European Commission (DG HERA) announced that they are working on preparing a joint agreement that would allow centralized procurement of Pretomanid (a next-generation TB medicine used for the treatment of drug-resistant TB) for EU countries.
We thank the organizers and participants for the constructive exchange of perspectives and updates, as well as for discussing joint steps to improve access to life-saving TB medicines in Europe.
