International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, commonly known as The Union, is a Paris-based global scientific and membership organization focused on tuberculosis, tobacco control, and broader lung health. Its work combines research, technical assistance, professional education, policy advocacy, publications, and implementation of health programs in countries facing major respiratory-disease burdens. The organization traces its origins to international tuberculosis-prevention cooperation and was formally established in Paris on 20 October 1920, when representatives of 31 countries met at the Sorbonne during the first international conference on tuberculosis held after the First World War. Its institutional predecessors included the Central Bureau for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. The organization was initially known as the International Union Against Tuberculosis, or IUAT. Its scope was later broadened to reflect a wider concern with respiratory health, and the expanded name International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease was adopted in the 1980s before becoming its principal name in 1995. The Union’s historical identity is closely associated with practical, evidence-based tuberculosis control in settings with limited resources. Karel Styblo was particularly influential in demonstrating that tuberculosis could be controlled in low-income countries through systematic case detection, standardized treatment, program management, and careful use of limited resources. This implementation-oriented approach helped shape international thinking about tuberculosis control and contributed to the wider adoption of directly observed treatment strategies and related program principles. The organization works across several connected areas. Tuberculosis remains central, including drug-resistant tuberculosis, HIV-associated tuberculosis, research, program design, and health-system implementation. Tobacco control is another major area, covering public policy, tobacco-industry accountability, prevention, and protection from tobacco smoke. The Union also addresses chronic and other respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, post-tuberculosis lung disease, air-pollution-related illness, occupational lung disease, and other non-communicable conditions. Its program portfolio also includes infectious respiratory diseases and selected health-system and non-communicable-disease priorities. The Union operates through regional and country-focused offices serving Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America, and Southeast Asia. It implements funded projects and technical activities with governments, health agencies, researchers, clinicians, and civil-society partners. Its work is not a consumer product business; its principal offerings are scientific knowledge, professional networks, policy expertise, training, operational research, conferences, publications, and support for public-health programs. A prominent institutional platform is the World Conference on Lung Health, an annual international meeting covering tuberculosis, HIV, tobacco control, lung disease, and related public-health issues. The Union also publishes scientific and operational journals, including the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Public Health Action, IJTLD Open, and IJTLD Chronic Respiratory Disease. These publications disseminate clinical research, epidemiological findings, operational studies, health-system evidence, and guidance relevant to infectious and chronic respiratory disease. The organization’s stated vision is a healthier world for all, free of tuberculosis and lung disease. Its positioning is therefore that of a specialist, evidence-led public-health institution rather than a commercial brand. The Union’s continuing relevance rests on its combination of scientific credibility, international membership, field implementation, and attention to the practical realities of respiratory-disease control in under-resourced settings.

The Union emerged from international efforts to coordinate tuberculosis prevention and control. Its antecedents included the Central Bureau for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, an earlier institution created to facilitate international cooperation against the disease. On 20 October 1920, during the first post-war international tuberculosis conference at the Sorbonne in Paris, representatives of 31 countries committed themselves to working together against tuberculosis. This meeting established the organization that became known as the International Union Against Tuberculosis, or IUAT. In its early decades, the organization served as a scientific and professional network for tuberculosis specialists, public-health officials, and institutions. Its work reflected the central role tuberculosis played in global mortality and health policy during the first half of the twentieth century. The organization supported the exchange of epidemiological information, professional knowledge, prevention methods, and treatment experience across national boundaries. The Union’s later history was strongly influenced by practical tuberculosis-control work in low-resource settings. Karel Styblo demonstrated that organized tuberculosis programs could achieve meaningful control even in very poor countries. His work in Tanzania showed the value of applying standardized approaches to diagnosis, treatment, reporting, supervision, and program evaluation rather than assuming that effective tuberculosis control was limited to wealthy health systems. This experience became an important part of the international evidence base for resource-conscious tuberculosis programs. In 1982, The Union instituted World Tuberculosis Day, linking public awareness and international advocacy to the centenary of Robert Koch’s discovery of the cause of tuberculosis. The observance helped maintain tuberculosis on the international public-health agenda and became a recurring platform for education, policy attention, and mobilization. The organization began expanding its remit during the 1980s. Its work increasingly addressed broader respiratory conditions and the public-health effects of tobacco use, rather than focusing exclusively on tuberculosis. The expanded name and mission were adopted in 1986, and the organization took its current name in 1995: the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. The change marked an institutional transition from a single-disease organization to a broader lung-health body while retaining tuberculosis as a core priority. Today, The Union combines international membership with scientific publishing, conferences, research, policy work, professional development, and implementation of funded projects. It has regional and country-focused offices serving multiple global regions, including Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America, and Southeast Asia. Its activities address tuberculosis, HIV-related respiratory concerns, tobacco control, chronic respiratory disease, other communicable diseases, and non-communicable lung conditions. The World Conference on Lung Health is one of the organization’s principal convening activities. It brings together clinicians, researchers, public-health officials, advocates, and program managers to discuss evidence and policy across tuberculosis and lung health. The Union also maintains a publication program that includes the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Public Health Action, IJTLD Open, and IJTLD Chronic Respiratory Disease. Collectively, these journals cover clinical and epidemiological research, operational research, health-system performance, infectious respiratory disease, chronic lung disease, tobacco exposure, air pollution, and related conditions. The Union’s historical development reflects the evolution of global respiratory health itself: from international tuberculosis coordination, to practical disease-control programs, and then to an integrated agenda spanning tuberculosis, tobacco, infectious respiratory disease, chronic lung disease, and health systems. Its present identity remains grounded in the translation of scientific knowledge into workable public-health action.

• 1995

  Current organizational name is adopted

  [1]International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseaseen.wikipedia.org

  The organization became known as the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, reflecting its broader respiratory-health scope.

• 1986

  Mission expands to wider lung health

  [1]International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseaseen.wikipedia.org

  The organization adopted an expanded mission covering tuberculosis and broader lung-health concerns.

• 1982

  World Tuberculosis Day is instituted

  [1]International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseaseen.wikipedia.org

  The Union established World Tuberculosis Day to mark the centenary of Robert Koch’s identification of the cause of tuberculosis.

• 1920

  International Union Against Tuberculosis is established

  [1]International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseaseen.wikipedia.org

  Representatives from 31 countries founded the organization in Paris on 20 October 1920 during the first post-war international conference on tuberculosis at the Sorbonne.

A global, evidence-based scientific and membership organization specializing in tuberculosis control, tobacco control, and respiratory health, with a strong emphasis on translating research into public-health practice.

• Scientific journal

  International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

  The Union’s principal subscription scientific journal publishes clinical, epidemiological, and public-health research on tuberculosis and other respiratory conditions. Its coverage includes chronic respiratory disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, tobacco-related hazards, air pollution, and related clinical and population-health questions. Union members receive access as part of the organization’s professional membership ecosystem.

• Open-access journal

  Public Health Action

  Public Health Action is an open-access journal focused on operational research in health systems and services. It aims to publish evidence that can improve access, equity, quality, and efficiency, with particular relevance to tuberculosis programs and other public-health interventions.

• Open-access scientific journal

  IJTLD Open

  IJTLD Open is an open-access sister journal covering infectious respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial disease. It also examines risk factors and comorbidities and accepts a broader range of formats, such as meeting reports, guidelines, consensus documents, study protocols, case reports, and case series.

• Open-access scientific journal

  IJTLD Chronic Respiratory Disease

  IJTLD Chronic Respiratory Disease focuses on chronic and long-term respiratory conditions. Its subject areas include post-tuberculosis lung disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, air pollution, smoking-related lung damage, interstitial lung disease, bronchiectasis, long COVID, sleep apnoea, occupational lung disease, and interventional pulmonology.

• International scientific conference

  World Conference on Lung Health

  The World Conference on Lung Health is The Union’s major annual international meeting. It convenes researchers, clinicians, government officials, program managers, advocates, and other specialists to exchange evidence and discuss policy and implementation across tuberculosis, HIV, tobacco control, and communicable and non-communicable lung diseases.

• 1982World Tuberculosis Day

  Global

  The Union created World Tuberculosis Day as an international awareness and advocacy observance commemorating the centenary of Robert Koch’s identification of the cause of tuberculosis. The initiative gave governments, health organizations, researchers, and advocates a recurring platform for public education and political attention.

  Outcome. It became an enduring annual tuberculosis-awareness platform associated with international public-health communication.

  Source

• 1995

  Adopt the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease nameStrategy

  Background

  The organization sought to align its public identity with its expanded responsibilities in respiratory health.

  Action taken

  It formally adopted the name International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, commonly shortened to The Union.

  Aftermath

  The organization continued operating as a global tuberculosis and lung-health membership and scientific institution.

  Source

• 1986

  Expand the institutional mission beyond tuberculosisStrategy

  Background

  The organization’s work was developing beyond tuberculosis prevention and control to include wider respiratory-health concerns.

  Action taken

  The Union adopted an expanded name and mission covering tuberculosis and lung disease.

  Aftermath

  The change created the basis for a broader agenda that later included tobacco control, chronic respiratory disease, air pollution, and other lung-health priorities.

  Source

1. 1International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseaseen.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Union official websitetheunion.org