We are pleased to share with you our July 2024 edition of the Country-Level Partnership Platforms featuring insightful topics and exciting news from our partners in the field.
Stop TB Partnership Cambodia
Stop TB Partnership Cambodia convened a national strategic stakeholder engagement meeting for the post-2023 UNHLM-TB, which was held on July 17, 2024, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The meeting brought together 65 participants from different partners and stakeholders, such as government agencies (MOH, NTP, and relevant ministries), members of parliament, donors, technical agencies, CSOs, community networks, journalists, celebrities, and lawyers, to understand the results of the UNHLM-TB, including the political declaration, share the country-level plan and its progress, and mobilize relevant stakeholders to accelerate their engagement and support towards achieving the post-2023 UNHLM-TB targets and commitments. The participants got to know the key country-based targets, such as TB case detection, childhood TB, DR-TB, and TPT close contacts to ensure the national efforts and commitment will ultimately reach the post-2023 UNHLM-TB targets for a period of five years (2023–2027). In addition, the political declaration and its commitments were disseminated widely among the participants to ensure social accountability is strengthened with relevant sectors regarding the TB response.
Stop TB Partnership Cameroon
Stop TB Partnership Cameroon seized the opportunity of the 2024 holidays to mobilize the inhabitants of 10 villages in the Lolodorf rural health district in the South Cameroon region around the creation of demand for TB services. The aim of the "Parade Vacances Stop TB" programme is to raise community awareness of tuberculosis through recreational activities. For a fortnight, several activities were held such as men and women’s football tournament; a multi-disease health campaign; various attractions such as traditional dances incorporating messages about tuberculosis; the best speakers on tuberculosis awareness; and the Miss & Masters. Stop TB Cameroon Rural 2024. These activities were officially launched on 28 July 2024 and in attendance had over 3,000 people, including young girls and boys, men, and women, traditional authorities raise awareness of the essential facts about tuberculosis through entertainment, leaving communities in a position to independently seek tuberculosis test if they see any signs of the disease.
Stop TB Partnership Congo DRC
From July 1 to 8, 2024, There was a meeting held on the mission to launch the surveillance carried out by the CLM_OneImpact_TB community in Kananga, in the province of Kasai Central. There were training activities around informing the TB Nurses on the CLM_ONEIMPACT TB, 20 trained community actors who are members of the STB Congo to aid carry out the monitoring and support of TB patients using the One Impact TB application as well as training 37 TB patients on the use of CLM_OneImpact TB who can now report any challenges encountered during their TB treatment. This mission was crowned by the official launch of CLM_ONEIMPACT TB. The Network of Key Populations and Vulnerable to Tuberculosis (RPCV/TB) adopted its charter during the General Assembly on Friday, July 4,2024 and held a meeting on the 25th to 26th of July as participants were fully represented with people living with disabilities, prisoners, men in uniform, women and girls, the elderly, indigenous peoples, street children as well as people living with HIV. /AIDS. The Club des Amis Damien and Stop TB DRC participated in the workshop organized by the National Tuberculosis Control Program from June 16 to 22, 2024 in Kinshasa for the development of the 2023 national tuberculosis report for the DRC. Lastly, on July 12, 2024, the Stop TB DRC hosted a meeting of the National Coordination which dealt with the adoption of the self-assessment report of Stop TB DC as well as the planning of the restructuring workshop of Stop TB DRC. The participants representing NGO members of this platform made various amendments to the report presented and defined the next deadlines with a precise work agenda.
Volunteers for Health Services (VSH) Ethiopia
There was a heartwarming recognition and get-together event at Bishoftu Hospital, Oromia on 23rd of July 2024 to celebrate TB patients who have successfully completed their treatment, it was organized by the hospital, Volunteers Health Services (VSH) and Ethiopian TB Association-ETA, through the support of Stop TB Partnership. The event aimed to honor the courage and determination of these individuals, highlighting their journey towards recovery and resilience. The gathering brought together more than 150 patients, their families, healthcare providers, and community supporters in a joyful and supportive environment.
Stop TB Partnership Ghana
There was a Planning Meeting on the Harmonized Approach to Community-led Monitoring for the various disease control programs. As part of preparations, the STB Partnership Ghana organized a Pre-Implementation and TB training workshop in Kumasi, bringing directors and/or representatives of all 97 Implementing Partners (NGOs) under one roof to train them on TB and finding the missing TB cases, especially in the hard-to-reach communities of Ghana. A 3-year contract agreement has been signed with the Global Fund GC7 to intensify their search for the missing TB cases thereby ending TB in Ghana. There was also a Follow-Up Meeting with the TB Communication Focal Person of Parliament to firm up the place of TB in the 2024 Campaign agenda. A meeting review was held on the progress of the implementation of the PPSS for Health Grant and addressed the bottlenecks in the implementation of the grant to ensure that health systems are in place and strengthened to help in the fight to eliminate TB from Ghana.
Stop TB Partnership Kenya
Stop TB Partnership Kenya held a training of 50 TB champions who serve as community health promoters in their respective communities. They were a total of 22 males and 38 females selected from 4 counties. The TB champions are linked to health facilities from the communities and act as a link to support patients in receiving TB care and information, as well as support adherence and contact tracing. The purpose of the training was to build their capacity on their roles, update them on the gaps and needs, and co-create inbred solutions and approaches towards ending TB by 2030. The UNHLM commitments were shared and contextualized to the local needs. They discussed strategies they could employ to meet the targets set therein in their small ways. the strategies included: Targeted outreaches to TB hotspot areas, Community Dialogues including monthly action days and chiefs barazas, Health talks in congregate settings e.g. places of worship etc. The plans will be affected in the coming months and the impact and outcomes reported.
Stop TB Partnership Kazakhstan
On July 05, 2024, a high-level meeting on the official establishment of the National Platform and strengthening the involvement of the civil community in reducing the burden of tuberculosis in the new Ulytau region was held in Zhezkazgan city for the first time and equally Ust-Kamenogorsk on 18th of July. The meeting was attended by representatives of the NTP, the National Partnership STOP TB, decision-makers in the region (Akimat, Health Department), and key partners (TB Center, Department of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control, AIDS Center, Mental Health Center, Department of the Penal System, Department of Economics and Budget Planning) and 5 NGOs. The meeting participants were presented with a TB patient's success story who shared his treatment experience and spoke about the importance of community support during TB treatment. Issues related to the region's intention to join the National Partnership STOP TB in Kazakhstan and the involvement of NGOs in the field of TB and its financing from the local budget were also discussed.
Stop TB Partnership Mozambique
On 30th July 2024, Stop TB Partnership Mozambique conducted a training of 53 journalists for engagement and advocate ending TB in 2030 in Nampula City, the 3rd largest and the most populated province of Mozambique. During the training, TB Ambassador Tico-Tico Bucuane met journalists to promote TB activities. He also promoted the engagement for new members for Stop TB Mozambique and was able to receive 17 candidates to became Stop Tb members. During the training, an Ex-TB patient shared her history in local language (Emakua) to sensitize journalists to disseminate more messages for TB prevention and TB care and treatment. The training was attended by provincial Directorate Health staff and Central Level Ministry of Health staff.
Stop TB Partnership Nigeria
The Stop TB Partnership Nigeria in collaboration with Minister of Health and Social Welfare launched the Private Sector Strategy to End Tuberculosis in Nigeria on 12th July 2024 at Red Restaurant, Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. The event underlined the importance of private sector participation in rallying support for TB control in Nigeria. The private sector organizations expressed their readiness to join the Private Sector Constituency for TB and leverage their expertise, network, innovations, and influence to mobilize and sustain the much-needed resources for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The private sector also committed to raising USD 25 million for TB initiatives to complement the efforts of the government and development partners in the ongoing efforts toward a TB-free Nigeria. In addition, the Annual Legislative Summit on Health in collaboration with Stop TB Partnership Nigeria hosted a panel discussion on improving legislation and domestic resources for tuberculosis during the 5th Annual Legislative Summit on Health with the theme ‘Improving Legislative Stewardship and Accountability for Universal Health Coverage’ held from 17th to 19th July 2024 at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Nigeria. The summit brought together parliamentarians from the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) and State Assemblies, development partners, civil society organizations and the media. The parliamentarians committed to passing and improving laws that facilitate Universal Health Coverage, support the mobilization and sustainability of human, financial, and material resources for health; committed to enhancing accountability in the healthcare industry via efficient public financial management systems; and driving a learning agenda to strengthen legislation, appropriation, and oversight functions of health committees at the national and sub-national levels.
Stop TB Partnership Tajikistan
The ‘Stop TB Partnership, Tajikistan for the first time in Tajikistan conducts an assessment of public opinion change based on the impact of advocacy and communication efforts made in collaboration with national celebrities and respected public figures in Tajikistan. The STPT developed a survey questionnaire in Tajik, Russian and Uzbek languages and created excel-based data base for data collection and analysis from570 people representing various age-groups, gender, and designations/social positions and various regions of the country. The plan is to collect data from a total of 1000 people after which a survey report will be developed presenting the level of knowledge/awareness of public on TB for 2024 as this Conduction survey will be implemented annually in the same order to monitor public opinion trends that will guide STP to plan more effective advocacy and communication activities. The ‘Stop TB Partnership, Tajikistan continued correspondence with CSOs related to TB community mapping exercise and started data analysis this July for the year 2024 in Tajikistan. As a result, a Directory of CSOs/CBOs 2024 and a Report “Mapping the community response to TB in Tajikistan” will be produced and will provide conclusions and recommendations for strengthening community systems and responses to TB in Tajikistan based on analysis of CSOs’ data, as well as practices, observations and learnings from recent years.
Stop TB Partnership Tanzania
STB Partnership Tanzania convened a meeting with the Head of Programs and the team of the National TB and Leprosy Program from the Ministry of Health to discuss the one-year progress of the implementation of the MAF-TB activities since its launch, during the meeting, several ideas were agreed to spearhead the progress via Decentralization, engaging more stakeholders, develop TOR for working groups, create M&E monitoring and evaluation assessments and advocate for increased funding. There was also the visitation and engagement with the prisons head office and several agreements were reached that need to be spearheaded to ensure big results especially for increasing TB Sensitization and screening, improving Prisons infrastructures to allow ventilation. They also conducted Visitation to the Immigration department to support them on Mainstreaming TB activities, several actions points were agreed including; MAF-TB FP from the department to attend the orientation session on the MAF-TB agenda, Switch the first contact during entry at borders from immigration to the health desk and Consider the MAF-TB Initiative for immigration staff as well as concept note development. Several agreements were equally reached including Mainstream TB agenda into induction courses across the 7 campuses, Mainstream TB agenda into academic courses (certificate, diploma, degree) and Stakeholder mapping from the viewpoint of the TPSC e.g. GIZ which had an agenda for HIV at the workplace etc
Stop TB Partnership Pakistan
An event on Data Dissemination of all TB Reach projects at NTRM (National TB review Meeting) and the National TOT on PMTPT (Programmatic Management of TPT) took place. Screening Camps exercise was held in Leprosy Hospital Rawalpindi in July, where almost 100 people were screened using the ultraportable digital X-ray equipped with AI, and 25 eligible people initiated on TPT. Three camps were held at Central Jail Peshawar, where almost 600 people were screened using the ultraportable digital X-ray equipped with AI, and 215 eligible people were initiated on TPT. Finally, there was a Meeting with the DG of Health to discuss ongoing projects, Prospective projects, achievements, and way forward as well as a meeting with the Chairman of Health to brief TB Landscape, discuss TB Stigma Assessment, and engage TB survivors as TB Champions.
Stop TB Partnership Uganda
STB Partnership Uganda had a review meeting with the TB survivors who are engaged in income-generating activities known as (IGAs) and a total of 65 participants turned up for the meeting. They also had the TB survivors visit places of worship for awareness creation and sensitization, the Five division were all involved with 4 survivors per division. There was also one impact training conducted aimed at improving reports to different communities as 50 TB survivors were present.
Stop TB Partnership Ukraine
An Interview was conducted with the national expert of the Public Health Center of the MOH of Ukraine on tuberculosis ahead of the World Day of Combating Viral Hepatitis.link to the interview: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/wayKcxnWfJxAK3xD/ the discussion was about how the tuberculosis and viral hepatitis treatment system works in Ukraine. The expert shared updated data on the state of health of Ukrainians and equally spoke about innovations in the treatment of tuberculosis and viral hepatitis during the war.
Stop TB Partnership Zimbabwe
A Training was held with 45 TB stakeholders from TB-affected communities, networks, CSOs, the media, and the private sector on One Impact CLM and how to use the platform to monitor the TB response to end TB stigma, provide peer-to-peer support, and provide feedback on the quality of TB services for their improvement. The training generated interest among stakeholders. They also hosted Namibian Parliamentarian Standing Committee on Gender, Equality, Social Development, and Family Affairs. The visit of important delegates was a fantastic opportunity to share mandate, highlight work done and future plans discussed. Valuable insights were noted from Namibia's initiatives in the fight against TB. In addition, there was Training of 35 TB survivors who represent the 10 Provinces of the country on the Right to breathe- training to enhance TB counseling and peer support and will cascade through their Provincial and District structures. Furthermore, Sensitization of 40 key stakeholders (Journalists, CSOs, TB survivors, TB champions, celebrities, Private Sector, etc.) from the 10 provinces of the country on UNHLM targets and commitments took place and give update on new TB projects and funding for collaboration and partnerships. This would strengthen partners' understanding of the country's TB situation and global commitments such as the UN High-Level Meeting on TB 2023 and align Zimbabwe's goals with international efforts. The meeting also provided a platform to engage District TB focal persons for coherence and common understanding in TB response. -Training of Community Health Advocates (CHAs) on Basic TB information, screening, contact tracing, and treatment support. The CHAs are TB survivors who will be working at public clinics in Harare providing morning health talks to raise awareness on TB, screening people who visit the clinic for TB, helping with contact tracing, and TB treatment support.