TAG staff and TB CAB members will lead sessions on vaccine readiness, treatment people can tolerate, and responsible AI in diagnosis — with community voices central to each discussion.
Contact: Adam Ortega (on the ground at Union) adam.ortega@treatmentactiongroup.org | Taran K. Deol, taran.deol@treatmentactiongroup.org
New York, November 9, 2026 — With a voice in more than 20 sessions at the 2026 Union World Conference on Lung Health, Treatment Action Group (TAG) and members of the Global Tuberculosis Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) will bring a robust presence to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Union conference, held between November 17–20, comes at a pivotal moment for TB innovation, with new vaccines, shorter regimens, and AI-enabled diagnostics moving rapidly through late-stage development. How these tools are developed, introduced, and delivered will determine who benefits from them and how quickly.
TAG and TB CAB members will discuss how communities can prepare for new vaccines before they are approved, how regimens can be designed around tolerability and what people want from treatment, how AI-enabled technologies and new diagnostics can reach the “missing millions”, and how to achieve equitable access to all of these innovations by design from the outset.
“This year’s Union Conference comes with a number of important TB treatment results to watch out for. From potentially more accessible, shorter regimens for drug-sensitive TB, to more tolerable alternatives to linezolid for drug-resistant TB, data presented in Rio will shape the future of TB treatment research,” Lindsay McKenna, TAG’s TB Project Co-Director said. “Results presented during the Union Conference will inform the next wave of phase 3 trials just as there is an apparent reckoning in the field regarding the importance of evaluating new regimens based on how they improve different domains of TB treatment and recovery experiences that matter to people with TB,” McKenna added.
“Having met with dozens of developers spanning TB therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine pipelines during our annual meetings, we call on the scientific community at the Union Conference to embed TB advocates and affected populations as co-creators of research from design to delivery — and even beyond, collaborating with communities throughout the entire research process to ensure trial designs dynamically adapt to both emerging science and the evolving needs of affected people,” Oxana Rucsineanu, Global TB CAB Board Member said.
Some sessions where you can find TAG and TB CAB members at the Union Conference:
- Talk the talk: An interactive workshop on tuberculosis vaccine messaging for introduction, uptake and impact. Tuesday, Nov.17, 10:00 AM -1:00 PM, Americas III
- Community action for active tuberculosis drug safety monitoring and management: Hands on experience workshop. Tuesday, Nov. 17, 3:15-3:45 PM, Segovia II
- Shifting the PARADIGM: Meaningful community engagement at the forefront of research innovation. Tuesday, Nov. 17, 11:30 AM-12:45 PM, Oceania X
- Ready, set, go: Community readiness for new TB vaccines. Wednesday, Nov. 18, 10:00-10:45 AM, Oceania X
- Equitable innovation: Championing the human right to science in TB R&D. Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2:15-3:45 PM, Americas III
- Focusing TB clinical trials on tolerability and safety. Thursday, Nov. 19, 2:15-3:45 PM, Asia II
- Responsible AI for TB detection: Data governance, transparency and equity. Thursday, Nov. 19, 4:00-5:30 PM, Segovia II
- Long-acting injectables for TB treatment and prevention. Friday, Nov. 20, 4:00-5:30 PM, Asia II
The conference coincides with the World Health Organization preparing to update the End TB Strategy for the post 2030-era. New tools are coming but political will and commitment to ending TB will determine their impact on the epidemic. Our priorities include:
- Vaccines: Prepare communities before approval. Trust, provider preparedness, and demand take time to build. Starting now is how promising vaccines have an equitable impact.
- Treatment: Design regimens around the people who take them. Tolerability, safety, and patient preference should shape new regimens as much as healthy systems considerations and cure rates do.
- Diagnosis: Leverage new technologies to expand testing to close deadly diagnostic gaps. Diagnosis is the weakest link in the TB care cascade. Communities must help design new tests and their introduction, and have a role in governing AI-enabled tools that can help health programs reach people with TB that they are currently missing.
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Treatment Action Group (TAG) is an independent, activist, and community-based research and policy think tank committed to racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ equity; social justice; and liberation, fighting to end HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and hepatitis C virus (HCV). TAG catalyzes open collective action by affected communities, scientists, and policymakers to ensure that all people living with or impacted by HIV, TB, or HCV – especially communities of color and other marginalized communities experiencing inequities – receive life-saving prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care, and information. We are science-based activists working to expand and accelerate vital research and effective community engagement with research and policy institutions for an end to the HIV, TB, and HCV pandemics.
The Global TB Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) is a group of research-literate community activists from HIV and TB networks around the world that works to ensure TB research is driven by the needs and priorities of communities affected by TB and that the resulting innovations and interventions are accessible to everyone, everywhere.