Following the December 2019 General Election, the APPG on Global TB hosted an Annual General Meeting on 12th of February. The meeting saw the formal reconstitution of the Group, the election of officers and discussion of the APPG’s priorities over the coming months.
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The Group re-elected Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing Southall) to act as the Group’s sole Chair following the decision of the Group’s long-standing Co-Chair, Nick Herbert, not to stand for election to the Commons.
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Pauline Latham MP (Conservative, Mid Derbyshire) joined the list of officers for the first time. She has been a long-standing member of the Commons International Development Select Committee alongside Mr Sharma. She joins Baroness Suttie, Baroness Sheehan and Baroness Masham of Ilton, who were all duly re-elected as Vice-Chairs of the Group.
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Following a lively discussion, the Group agreed to focus its priorities on ensuring the recommendations from its last inquiry into the national TB response were fully implemented. The group also agreed to launch a new inquiry focussed specifically on TB research and development, in light of a new WHO strategy and the persistence of an over US$ 1 billion funding gap in spite of commitments made at the UN High Level Meeting.
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The APPG can be found on the formal register of APPGs, which can be accessed here. Any questions should be directed to the APPG’s secretariat at info@appg-tb.org.uk.