On 22 March, on the occassion of World TB Day, TBVI organises the symposium 'Europe and ACP together against tuberculosis' in the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting will take place under the patronage of Charles Goerens, MEP. Co-hosts are MEP's Ms Maria da Graça Carvalho and Ms Linda McAvan.

This years' theme is how Europe and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP countries) can strengthen each other in the fight against tuberculosis.

The symposium will take place on Thursday 22 March 2012, from 11.00-15.00h in the European Parliament. The programme includes among others the following speakers:
- Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Secretary General of the ACP
- Ms Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa
- Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, Director of WHO Europe
- Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director Stop TB Partnership
- Prof. Dr Charles Mgone, Executive Director of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
Furthermore, TBVI's director Jelle Thole will present the New Blueprint for TB vaccines.

TBVI warmly invites you for this meeting!
Registration is required before 12 March.
Read more about the programme and link to registration form

Great effort and significant progress in TB vaccine research have been made over the past decade. Promising vaccine candidates are now going through the various phases of clinical trials. However, developing the needed vaccines is a huge and complicated task that no one country or organisation can do alone. A strategic blueprint for the development of new TB vaccines, created through international cooperation, describes the major scientific challenges, outlines the keys to progress and describes the requirements and conditions for delivering these live-saving solutions.
TBVI’s director Jelle Thole is one of the key authors of this blueprint. Mike Brennan of Aeras lead the production of this document, which was produced under the auspices of Stop TB Partnership (Working Group on New TB Vaccines). The Blueprint will be published in the journal ‘Tuberculosis’, and presented on several World TB Day meetings around the world. Several research partners will contribute in the journal with opinion pieces.
Around World TB Day, the Blueprint will be available on TBVI's website

World TB Day is coming. A perfect opportunity to let the world know how urgently new vaccines are needed in the race against this deadly disease. If you happen to have a twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media account, consider to use the week before world TB day (19-24 March) to spread your message about TB. We already have a few suggestions:

24 March #WorldTBDay: Did you know that every 22 seconds, someone dies of #tuberculosis? New vaccines are urgently needed to stop this!

Drug resistant strains of TB threaten the whole world. If we had new vaccines, it would be easier to stop this growing threat. #WorldTBDay
You can also follow our discussion on twitter

The coming months, TBVI contributes to several international meetings:

1. On 24 March, World TB Day, TBVI's Joris Vandeputte will speak on a symposium organised by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Toulouse, France. The programme can soon be found on our website.

2. 13-14 April: International Conference on Human Immunity to Tuberculosis, Atlanta, USA. TBVI sponsors this meeting and several research partners will be present as speakers.

3. Tuberculosis 2012: Biology, Pathogenesis, Intervention Strategies
Symposium from 11-15 September, Paris. TBVI's director Jelle Thole will chair the session 'Novel vaccine strategies', and many scientists from TBVI's research partners will be present as a speaker.
For more detals and more agenda items, please take a look at our website