The Civil Society Forum Meeting

The Civil Society Forum (CSF) on HIV, TB, and hepatitis (CSF) reconvened after the summer for its 2nd internal meeting as an independent entity. The CSF was originally set up as a European Commission initiative but since 2019 has been operating independently, while still working closely with the Commission and EU institutions. TBEC has been very excited to see the recent developments within its current form and new membership, and we are pleased to see several of our members involved with the new CSF. 

Three key working groups were established during this meeting, these are

  • Global Fund and UNAIDS
  • EU4Health
  • Monitoring of the Dublin Declaration

TBEC intends to contribute to the work of the EU4Health working group and will also participate in the Global Fund related activities of the Global Fund and UNAIDS working group. We hope these will be active and successful endeavours, and that together we can advocate for positive change at the European level. 

We were also pleased to welcome 2 speakers who presented on recent updates and initiatives within the region which included: 

  • Daniel Simões from EuroTest provided an update on European Testing Week and regional assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on testing services. EuroTest is a European platform for information exchange and activities to improve early diagnosis and care of HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis.
  • Professor Mojca Matičič is the Head of the Unit for Viral Hepatitis at the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana. Mojca made a presentation on the EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) statement on the decriminalisation of drug use as a key intervention for the elimination of hepatitis C. 

The election procedure for the new coordination team was also established. TBEC took over from Global Health Advocates in January 2020 as part of the coordination team and hopes to continue this role as part of a newly elected team. We look forward to seeing the new CSF at work and engaging with them in the fight against TB.

Blog written by Louise Cliff, TBEC Officer
The Civil Society Forum Meeting
The Civil Society Forum Meeting