UNPHU holds International Technical Discussion Table on World Tuberculosis Day

For the second year in a row, Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), its Faculty of Health Sciences and its School of Medicine, held the international technical discussion on the World Day to Fight Tuberculosis (TB), which is celebrated on March 24 of each year. The activity counted on the collaboration of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the National Tuberculosis Control Program (PNCT), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO-WHO), the MSP-PNCT and the TB-RD Observatory together with ADOPLAFAN. National and international speakers participated.

The event was titled World Tuberculosis Day 2023: Learn from the Past to Succeed from the Present and End Tuberculosis by 2035 with the Role of Civil Society and ObserveTB‘’. It brought together members of civil society from various countries, teachers, and students from the health field.

Welcoming remarks and introduction to the conference were given by Dr. William Duke, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, who also served as moderator, and expressed ‘’World Tuberculosis Day 2023, aims to inspire hope and encourage high-level leadership, increased investments, faster adoption of the new WHO recommendations, adoption of innovations, accelerated action and multisectoral collaboration to combat the TB epidemic ‘’.

The first speaker was Dr. Ricardo Elías Melgen, director of the PNCT of the MSP, who presented the data and activities on TB updates in the Dominican Republic. In the same order, the distinguished Ophthalmologist, a UNPHU graduate, Dr. Herbert Stern Díaz, president of the Dominican Academy of Medicine addressed with the subject «Notes on the History of Tuberculosis”. Dr. Belkys Marcelino, International Consultant of PAHO, also participated in the event, with the subject “Importance of epidemiological surveillance in the National Plan of TB, recent statistics at global and local level”, and Kathy Eridania Brito, Coordinator of Observa TB and ADOPLAFAM, who addressed the recent activities and organization plans of civil society in the TB Observatory of the Dominican Republic.

The acknoweldged Dr. Alberto Colorado, coordinator of Observa TB in the Americas PAHO, addressed the subject «End Tuberculosis in 2035. Civil society strategies», in which he presented an updated overview for the high-level meeting of the United Nations and the meeting of parliamentary strategies presented in Panama, as well as to prioritize civil society that calls for financing actions to support technical interventions in the comprehensive care of patients with tuberculosis. The goal is to end the disease by 2035. 

The event took place on March 22, 2023, and was broadcast on UNPHU’s YOUTUBE channel. You can see it at the link: