View the proceedings from the TB Drug Management Workshop

Approximately three million people worldwide die each year from tuberculosis (TB). The demand for TB drugs has increased as countries attempt to control the spread of the disease. This situation prompted Stop TB, the Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Association (KNCV), and the Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus (RPM Plus) and SEAM programs of Management Sciences for Health (MSH) to organize a strategic meeting of the world's drug management experts.

The Improving TB Drug Management meeting expanded upon information gathered by Stop TB's Global Drug Facility (GDF). This information, coupled with experiences from in-country TB drug management assessments conducted by KNCV and RPM Plus, was used to evaluate the capacity of individual countries to manage the potential influx of TB drugs and to help them prepare for the effective use of these drugs to combat the spread of TB.

The objectives of the Improving TB Drug Management meeting were to—

• Identify the major strengths and weaknesses of in-country management of TB drugs
• Develop country-specific joint action plans between countries and partners to improve TB drug management
• Identify indicators for routine monitoring of TB drug management
• Identify the characteristics of good procurement practice for both national and global procurement of TB drugs
• Identify a core set of TB products for the GDF and countries

Breakout sessions during the meeting focused on discussions of guidelines for procurement, product selection, and the monitoring of drug management activities.

More than half of the 50 participants invited were from national TB programs (NTPs), ministries of health, or nongovernmental organizations supporting NTPs in various developing nations. The list of participants included experts in drug purchasing, demand forecasting of drugs, logistics and distribution, warehousing, and prescribing and dispensing.

Representatives from the following countries were present:

Bangladesh Benin Brazil China Congo Brazzaville Democratic Republic of Congo India—Uttar Pradesh Indonesia Kenya

Moldova Nepal Nigeria Pakistan Philippines Somalia Sudan Uganda Uzbekistan

Organizational representatives were present from the Boston University School of Public Health/Department of International Health, Crown Agents, German Leprosy Relief Association (GLRA), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD), John Snow, Inc. (JSI), Project HOPE, Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Association (KNCV), Stop TB, United Nations Development Program/Inter-Agency Procurement Services Office (UNDP/IAPSO), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank.