We are pleased to invite you to the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health, taking place in Liverpool, UK, from 26 to 29 October 2016.

TB is a curable and treatable disease, yet it was accountable for the deaths of 1.5 million people in 2014. Its effects are felt in all parts of the world – including the UK – and it poses real challenges for public health efforts globally.

Our conference theme is Confronting Resistance: Fundamentals to Innovations. This addresses a number of critical areas for discussion, including the growing problem of resistance to existing TB drugs, which is one of the most important challenges facing us today.

The theme also reflects our global tobacco control work, which requires coordinated efforts to confront resistance from the powerful tobacco industry and to introduce the innovative policies needed to de-normalise and reduce tobacco use. This work combats the pandemic of tobacco-related diseases that account for six million deaths each year.

Most broadly, the theme is also the next natural step after 2015’s “New Agenda” – confronting resistance to the new ideas and challenges that this agenda introduces to governments, business, communities, the healthcare system and individuals.

Our annual World Conference is a four-day scientific programme and a vital meeting place for the finest scientific minds working on all aspects of lung health, including TB. It is truly fitting that in 2016 we will be hosted by Liverpool. This dynamic city has for many years been at the forefront of pioneering research into TB causes, effects and treatment, through its work at the world famous Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, as well as far-reaching and innovative sanatorium care in the city’s regional hospital network.