KNCV at the Union World Conference on Lung Health 2025: Listening and learning for People-Centred TB solutions
The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2025 in Copenhagen brought together more than 2,000 participants from across the globe: community leaders, innovators, private sector partners, implementing organizations, and representatives from the KNCV Network.
For KNCV, this conference was an opportunity to strengthen equal alliances, amplify community voices, and reaffirm our commitment to people-centred approaches in the fight to end TB.
Listening to communities is the heart of our work
Ending TB is not just a scientific challenge, it is a human one. At the Union, we emphasized the importance of listening to communities affected by TB and co-creating solutions that reflect their realities. Equal partnerships and trust are the foundation of impactful interventions, and KNCV continues to champion these principles in every project we implement.
Showcasing innovation and knowledge
Throughout the conference, KNCV experts shared insights from our diverse portfolio of projects and initiatives across our Program Areas, highlighting how innovation and collaboration drive progress:
- ASCENT DR-TB: Advancing strategies for drug-resistant TB care and prevention;
- SCAF-TB: Saving Children And their Families from TB. Central to SCAF-TB is the belief that sustainable TB prevention must be rooted in local communities;
- Childhood and Adolescents TB: Ensuring early detection and tailored care for vulnerable age groups;
- OptCARE: Optimizing access to TB CARE for children and their families in hard-to-reach areas in Ethiopia;
- DreamFund "No More Pandemics": Setting a new standard for the diagnosis of infectious diseases and antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR) by ensuring access for all patients to a novel technology to test for all infectious diseases; nanopore sequencing using MinION devices;
- Aida: The first digital companion for people on TB treatment;
- AI Chatbot (Netherlands): Contributing to the dissemination of knowledge about TB, without language barriers and free from stigma;
- TB stigma: Breaking barriers through education, health literacy, and dismantling stigmatizing myths around TB;
- and more.
Commitment to knowledge dissemination
Our role as a knowledge exchange platform remains central. At the Union, we not only shared evidence and best practices but also committed to ongoing dissemination, through publications, webinars, and community engagement ensuring that lessons learned translate into action worldwide.
Looking ahead
The Union World Conference 2025 reaffirmed that ending TB requires more than technology and treatment; it demands solidarity, equity, and a relentless focus on people. As we acknowledge, not every person who is impacted by TB can attend knowledge exchange platforms like this, that's why KNCV continues to listen, innovate, and collaborate to facilitate learning and engagement with the communities that need to be heard. Because together, we can end TB.
