World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Program & Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation

World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Program

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Program works to increase access to TB prevention, care, and control, while also guiding global responses to threats, and promoting innovation.

Need

In April 2012, our Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and the WHO’s Global TB Program launched the first phase of ENGAGE-TB, a collaboration to promote community-based TB and TB/HIV care in five African countries.

ENGAGE-TB connects NGOs and civil society organizations with national TB and AIDS programs. Together, they work on community-based TB activities. The project also helps to define global TB documentation and encourage reporting of community-based programs.

The second phase seeks to build on the successes of Phase 1 in order to sustain and replicate the ENGAGE-TB approach at the country and global levels.

Project

Phase 2 of ENGAGE-TB will begin with a global report documenting the experiences, lessons learned, and impact of the collaboration on tuberculosis around the world.

At the country level, ENGAGE-TB will encourage NGOs to continue their involvement. It will also increase the ability of WHO country offices to provide support to National Treatment Programs and National Coordination Bodies. The program will expand the focus on mother and child health and HIV while establishing national recording and reporting systems.

At the global level, the program will host a forum to increase commitment for TB integration and attempt to gain more resources. The project will serve as evidence of the positive impact of integrating TB in community-based activities. The goal is to increase the global commitment to “reach the unreached” and help eliminate TB through the proven approach of the Foundation’s collaboration with the WHO Global TB Program.