International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union)

09/02/2026

🗓️ Save the date: The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2026.

We’re delighted to announce that the Union World Conference on Lung Health 2026 will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from Tuesday, 17 to Friday, 20 November 2026.

🗣️ Following feedback from delegates, the conference will run over four days, allowing enough time for learning, discussion and connection across the global lung health community, while reducing pressure on budgets and time commitments.

The Union Conference 2026 is set to be a vibrant and energising occasion, where the leading voices from across the lung health community will unite.

The programme is sure to be packed full of world-class science and awe-inspiring community action, presented across a wide range of plenaries, oral abstract sessions, e-posters, symposia, workshops and more.

The Union Conference is the platform for lung health, with content that reflects our diverse community. We look forward to welcoming the global lung health community to Rio in November 2026.

More information on abstract submissions, programme highlights and registration will follow soon.

27/01/2026

💻Join us for a webinar and learn to make an abstract clear and compelling - using our World Conference on Lung Health guidelines.

📆Jan 28th 11am EST/5pm Paris

➡️Presented by Katharina Kranzer
Chair of our Conference Scientific Committee

✅Register: https://ow.ly/BHmI50Y0ips

21/01/2026

💻Join us for a webinar and learn to make an abstract clear and compelling - using our World Conference on Lung Health guidelines.

📆Jan 28th 11am EST/5pm Paris

➡️Presented by Katharina Kranzer
Chair of our Conference Scientific Committee

✅Register: https://ow.ly/SbZv50Y0ipt

20/01/2026

💻Tomorrow, our To***co Control membership group is co-hosting the webinar:

🚬The illicit to***co trade in South Asia, a significant economic and public health challenge

📅Jan 21 at 12:00 India/14:30 Singapore/13:30 Jakarta

To register, please visit https://ow.ly/rjyN50XWRV9

15/01/2026

💻Our To***co Control membership group is co-hosting the webinar:

🚬The illicit to***co trade in South Asia, a significant economic and public health challenge

📅January 21 at 12:00 India/14:30 Singapore/13:30 Jakarta

To register, please visit https://ow.ly/fweN50XWS4L

13/01/2026

Children and adolescents are disproportionately affected by TB yet often fall through the cracks of traditional TB programmes.

A recently published Public Health Action article highlights how south-to-south peer networks are helping change that reality. The platforms connect clinicians, programme managers and frontline workers across countries with the latest TB diagnostic and treatment approaches for children and adolescents, reducing barriers to early case detection and care.

👥 While virtual peer networks expand access and accelerate learning, in-person engagement remains essential for addressing more complex challenges and building trusted relationships.

Investing in collaborative networks strengthens health systems and brings us closer to in young populations.

🔗https://ow.ly/R5F750XWfKV

08/01/2026

🚭 We know the growing threat e-cigarettes and ni****ne products pose to young people across the globe, but the latest report from the Truth Initiative highlights the extent of the problem.

📈 Young people now have access to bigger and cheaper e-cigarettes and are using them with alarming frequency. The to***co industry is using this rapidly expanding product range to attract and addict the next generation of to***co or ni****ne users.

✊ This reaffirms the need for us to commit to the Dublin Declaration (signed during the World Conference on To***co Control 2025): https://www.worldto***cocontrol.org

Backed by the global to***co control community, the declaration is a powerful call to action on behalf of the delegates reaffirming the urgency of global to***co control efforts.

🧾 Be sure to read Monitoring a Changing To***co Product Market in the United States: https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/emerging-to***co-products/monitoring-changing-to***co-product-market-united

***coControl

Young people have access to bigger and cheaper e-cigarettes and are using them with alarming frequency, showing signs of addiction.

23/12/2025

Season's greetings!

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a most prosperous and healthy new year,
From everyone at The Union.

22/12/2025

After such an impressive year for The Union, Cassandra Kelly-Cirino and Guy Marks look back at everything we have accomplished in 2025: https://ow.ly/XLog50XN8Ji

🌐Building on The Union’s leadership as a global scientific authority, we have advanced evidence, partnerships and action where lung health needs it most.

📈Despite the challenges of tuberculosis and lung disease, your collective expertise and commitment have delivered real progress in policy, research and care.

🤝Together with our members, colleagues and partners, we are turning ambition into impact towards a world free of tuberculosis and lung disease - thank you for being part of this progress.

17/12/2025

The adoption of the UN political declaration to combat noncommunicable disease and mental health is a big step forward for global health.

The Union flew the flag for lung health at the United Nations General Assembly and High-Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases, with the NCD Alliance and other partners, so we look forward to what this really means for NCDs and mental health.

16/12/2025

💻Our To***co Control membership group is co-hosting the webinar:

Cigarette filters: implications for health effects and the environment

📅17th December 10:30am -12:00pm IST/1pm Singapore/16th December 9:00pm PST/4pm Sydney

To register, please visit https://ow.ly/p21e50XKpRC

15/12/2025

The Union World Conference on Lung Health is an opportunity for the lung health community to share lessons in how to overcome challenges. In Copenhagen, Dr Obioma Chijioke-Akaniro presented Nigeria's experience of the US funding cuts and how the national TB programme mitigated their impact through the use of data.

Be sure to read Obioma's insightful interview with Jenny Lei Ravelo for Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/how-data-helped-nigeria-mitigate-the-impact-of-us-cuts-on-tb-111417

One key lesson Dr. Obioma Chijioke-Akaniro, monitoring and evaluation manager at the National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme in Nigeria, shares for other countries: Build your own data system and ensure you’re in control.