Regional meeting of national TB programme managers

The fourteenth meeting of the national TB Programme Managers of the SEA Region was held in New Delhi, India from 2-5 November 2009. The meeting was attended by 81 participants including director-general of health services, national TB programme managers and staff from all Member States, representatives from partner agencies supporting TB control in countries of the Region and WHO TB staff from headquarters, the Regional Office for South-East Asia and country offices. This meeting provided a very useful forum to review the situation, achievements and challenges for TB control in countries of the Region, exchange experiences, and provide updates on newer strategies recommended for TB control. The discussions on technical issues allowed programme managers and staff from WHO-HQ, SEARO and country offices to priorities required interventions and agree on actions to be taken, including for the additional external support needed jointly with partner and donor agencies, to more effectively address TB control in the SEA Region. This meeting was timely in the context of consolidating and harmonizing national and partners' plans in the context of the next phase of country 5-year plans until 2015, the year to achieve targets set under the Millennium Development Goals.