NDWG Highlights - July 2021

WHO catalogue of mutations

On 25 June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the first Catalogue of mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and their association with drug resistance. The NDWG members contributed to the WHO catalogue of mutations by providing valuable inputs into technical areas of the document and by supporting the reviews and finalization of the meeting report.

Core group members

We are pleased to welcome Shibu Vijayan as our new Non-government Organization Constituency Core Group Member.

Shibu Vijayan is a medical doctor, with a Masters in Public Health (MPH) and over 25 years of experience working across the complete spectrum of Public Health Services from primary care through teaching hospitals and Ministry of Health. His expertise includes designing and deploying private sector engagement innovations for urban health systems, specifically pertaining to lung diseases (TB), artificial intelligence augmented digital triaging systems, new diagnostics for TB and COVID-19. He has worked with WHO, MSF, The Union, Global Health Advocates and is presently the Global TB Technical Director at PATH based out of New Delhi, providing technical leadership to more than 10 countries for PATH’s TB work. He is a core group member of Public Private Mix working group for TB hosted by WHO. Shibu has published scientific research papers in Health System, PPM TB, Diabetes –TB and private sector engagement in urban areas.

We are also delighted to announce that Renuka Gadde, who was previously representing the Diagnostics Manufacturer Constituency, has taken a new role as the Core Group Member of the Access to TB Diagnostics Constituency.

Renuka Gadde is currently the Senior Advisor in the global labs team at Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI Inc.) focused on COVID-19 testing across low-and-middle income countries. Prior to joining CHAI in 2020, Renuka served in various business roles at BD, a global medical technology company, her last leadership role being Vice President, Global Health. Born and raised in India, Renuka joined BD in Singapore as the Regional Director, Asia Pacific for the immunization business. She has extensive experience in leading global health programs in advancing equitable access to health for unserved and underserved communities. Throughout her career, Renuka established several public-private partnerships for capacity building, advancing access to health technologies and to strengthen health systems in low-and-middle income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

NDWG Twitter

The NDWG has launched a Twitter handle (@StopTB_NDWG). Follow us!