Europe is lagging behind in fight against tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is “an increasing threat to health security” in Europe, say health ministers gathered in Germany for a World Health Organization regional forum on the disease.

The ministers have adopted the Berlin Declaration on Tuberculosis, which calls for urgent action to reverse the high prevalence of tuberculosis, including the multidrug resistant and extensively drug resistant strains. WHO member states and international partners have committed themselves to providing more political support and resources to control and eventually eliminate the disease.

The forum heard that in the WHO European region in 2005 there were 445 000 new cases of tuberculosis and 66 000 deaths related to the …