ROME-The World Health Organization met with the European Respiratory Society on Thursday in the Eternal City to present their new global framework to eliminate tuberculosis in countries with low levels of the disease.

 Secretary General of the ERS Professor GB Migliori, Director of WHO and the Global TB Programme Dr. M. Raviglione, and Director of the Ministry of Health Dr G. Ruocco launched the new initiative at a press conference held at the Starhotel and outlined the key stages of the elimination process.

 The global framework focuses on a “pre-elimination” phase aiming to have less than ten TB cases per million people per year by 2035 and achieve full elimination-by which WHO and ERS refer to less than one case of TB per million people per year-in 2050. Despite this target seeming somewhat ambitious, specialist Dr. M. Raviglione believes that it is feasible.

 Although tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease, even in the low risk countries 155 000 people still become infected and 10 000 die, equating to 30 deaths a day.

 Today there are 33 countries where there are less than 100 TB cases per million people. Italy is one of the countries addressed by the initiative along with seven from the Americas, three from WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region and two from WHO’s Western Pacific Region.

 The 33 countries taking part in the framework recognize the need to “reenergize the efforts to eliminate TB as a public health problem and prevent its resurgence. According to specialists, “TB has been forgotten over the last few years.”

 WHO Assistant Director-General Dr Hiroki Nakatani explains the reason behind the 33 countries’ support in the scheme despite being the least affected; “Low TB-burden countries already have the means to drive down TB cases dramatically by 2035.

 Universal health coverage, which ensures everyone has access to health services they need without suffering financial hardship as a result, is the bedrock. The key is to target smart TB interventions towards the people who need them most.”

 Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme Dr M. Raviglione adds; “Countries with low incidence of TB are uniquely positioned to reach historically low levels of TB. They can serve as global trailblazers.”

 The WHO framework outlines eight key interventions; to ensure funding and stewardship for planning and services are of high quality, to address the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups, to address the special needs of migrants, to manage outbreaks by undertaking screening for active TB and latent TB infections in high risk groups, to optimize prevention and care, to ensure continued surveillance, to invest in research and to support the global TB control.

 A young Italian couple attended the press conference with their 12-year-old son Alessandro, who was affected by XDR-TB, in order to share their experience. During the conference Alessandro’s father gave a speech to show his gratitude for the support and care that his son received.

 “We are here today because our son still has the strength to tell his own story, despite his seven months of isolation, treatments, medical examinations, deprivations, pains and tears.

 We are here today to bear witness that TB still exists and all of us can be affected by it. We hope that our presence here today will lead to a greater awareness of diseases in Italy that were thought to have disappeared but are now re-emerging.

 We want to achieve a deeper knowledge among general practitioners for a prompt diagnosis-in Alessandro’s case it took five months from the symptom onset until the final diagnosis. We want to see more personnel in health centres. In the Lombardy reference centre, where our son Alessandro was cared for, there were only two physicians.”