Parliament APPG TB meeting 2009

Kerry Bailey, of COMDIS partner Good Shepherd Hospital, Swaziland, presented on Integrating TB/HIV Care in Sub-Saharan Africa alongside presenters from DFID and from TARGETS/Zambart. There was high attendance of 35+ and the room was filled to more than capacity. audience members included 3 MP's (Ann Cryer, Doug Naysmigh, and co-chair Julie Morgan), the chairman of TB Alert, Peter Hayward of the Lancet, as well as many others from various organizations.

All three presentations were well received, and they were followed by a lively 1 hour discussion on TB in the developing world. Discussion topics included:

• Best options for TB diagnosis and new diagnostics in the pipeline
• How to best get research results into national policy
• How the UK can help more
• Expansion on the idea of two diseases, one person - that each presenter flagged
• TB/HIV stigma issues and highlight that more needs to be done
• Key challenges, eg human resources, training, stigma, funding, advocacy
• GF and their stipulation that TB/HIV needs to be integrated to receive funding
• And others.....