international union against tuberculosis and lung disease international union against tuberculosis and lung disease the international union against tuberculosis and lung disease or the union, is a global scientific organization headquartered in paris with the stated goals to "improve health for people in low- and middle-income countries". the union focuses its work in three areas: tuberculosis, tobacco control, and lung and non-communicable diseases. the antecedents of the union date to an 1867 meeting to discuss the tuberculosis plague, and include the former central bureau for the prevention of tuberculosis and the international union against tuberculosis (iuat). the union no longer uses the acronym "iuatld" as its short-form name. international union against tuberculosis and lung diseasethe international union against tuberculosis and lung diseasesformation20 october 1920typengo, nonprofitpurposepublic health, evidence to policy, tuberculosisheadquartersparis, francewebsitehttps://theunion.orgformerly callediuatld history early pioneers were robert koch, sir john crofton and karel styblo. according to the lancet, in the 70s, styblo "harnessed the meager resources of the international union against tuberculosis and lung disease and showed that, contrary to expert opinion, tuberculosis could be controlled in extremely poor countries: beginning in tanzania, one of the poorest of them all". in 1982, it instituted world tuberculosis day, commemorating 100 years from the date when robert koch discovered cause of tuberculosis. the expanded name and mission were adopted in 1986. the union organises the annual union world conference on lung health, the largest annual meeting on lung health in the world. past presidents include: 1921: robert philip 1922: e dewez 1924: f morin 1926: theobald smith 1928: f a piomarta 1930: théodor frölich 1932: willelm nolen 1934: eugenjusz piestrzynski 1937: lopo de carvalho 1950: k a jensen 1952: manoel de abreu 1954: a crespo alvarez 1957: p v benjamin 1959: ismail tewfik saglam 1961: g j wherrett 1963: attilio omodei zorini 1965: erich schröder 1967: jan k kraan 1969: james e perkins 1971: v chebanov 1973: t shimatzu 1975: miguel jimenez 1978: a gyselen 1983: h rodriguez castells 1986: n c sen gupta 1990: james swomley 1994: rudolf ferlinz 1995–1998: songkram supcharoen 1999–2000: kjell bjartveit 2001–2003: anne fanning 2004–2007: asma el sony 2008–2011: s. bertel squire 2012–2016: e. jane carter 2017–2019: j. chakaya muhwa 2020–present: guy marks activities according to its website, the union has twelve offices around the world serving africa, the asia pacific, europe, latin america, the middle east, north america and south-east asia, with a focus on tuberculosis, hiv, lung health and non-communicable diseases, tobacco control and research. publications the union publishes two scientific journals; the international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease (ijtld) and public health action (pha). the ijtld is distributed to over 165 countries world-wide and has an impact factor of 2.76. the ijtld is the reference for clinical research and epidemiological studies on tuberculosis. it is also the only peer-reviewed journal dedicated to lung health, including articles on non-tuberculosis-related respiratory diseases such as asthma, acute respiratory infection, copd and the hazards of tobacco and pollution. public health action is the union's open-access online journal which is published quarterly. pha addresses the need for showcasing operational research that addresses issues in health systems and services and aims to provide new knowledge to improve access, equity, quality and efficiency of health systems and services.