OSI's Roma Health Project and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease sponsored the workshop "TB and Social Exclusion in Eastern Europe," organized by the World Lung Foundation and the World Health Organization. The conference brought together 42 national health planners, TB coordinators, and representatives of civil society to discuss the response to TB in marginalized and minority communities throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
The event coincided with the launch of the Roma Health Project publication Confronting a Hidden Disease: TB in Roma Communities. The report, produced in collaboration with the World Lung Foundation, outlines the available literature and data on Roma and TB in Central and Eastern Europe and current efforts by governments and nonprofit organizations to address TB in Roma communities.
For more information on OSI's efforts to address TB and social exclusion, please contact Heather Doyle, hdoyle@sorosny.org.
To see presentations from the TB and Social Exclusion seminar, please visit the World Lung Foundation's site at www.worldlungfoundation.org/news_seminar_social_exclusion.html.