History of the Union World Conference

The first international conference on tuberculosis was held in 1867, well before the cause of TB was discovered by Prof Robert Koch in 1882. The Union traces its origins to these gatherings of experts from around the world who were determined to collaborate and find a common solution to "the White Plague" – tuberculosis. The International Union Against Tuberculosis (IUAT) was formed by 31 national lung associations at the first meeting after World War I, held in Paris in 1920. This is known as the Constitutional Conference.