The TB community concluded a successful week of putting TB in the spotlight during the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York from 23-27th September. The week featured three successful side-events organized by the Stop TB Partnership, a Political Declaration on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that highlighted Drug-Resistant TB as a top priority, and ensured visibility for TB during the UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on AMR, despite challenges faced by civil society representatives that participated in the meeting. Stop TB Partnership kicked off the UNGA week with three successful side events:
Future Ready: TB Vaccines Dialogue
The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia and the Stop TB Partnership convened a TB Vaccines Dialogue on the morning of 24 September to start bringing together the critical and diverse group of country and global stakeholders and partners, including civil society and communities, that will be instrumental in the realistic and practical development and delivery of TB vaccines by 2028. This concrete, unscripted, and unique discussion focused on key upstream and downstream themes identified by the attendees through an Insights Survey, including related to optimal and increased financing needs for TB vaccines development and awareness and education needs for TB vaccines delivery. A non-attributable Synthesis Report will be published in the coming weeks.
Breaking The Resistance: Fighting TB and AMR Together For A Healthy Future
On the evening of 24th September, the Stop TB Partnership, with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Government of Japan; Department of Health, Government of The Philippines; and Ministry Of Health And Social Protection Of Population Of The Republic Of Tajikistan, organized a side-event on AMR and TB titled ‘Breaking The Resistance: Fighting AMR And TB Together For A Healthy Future’.
The event featured a keynote address by the First Lady of Nigeria and TB Champion, Senator H.E. Oluremi Tinubu, a Ministerial Panel consisting of the Minister of Health from Tajikistan, Deputy Ministers of Health from Japan and the Philippines, and the Director of Public Health from Nigeria, as well as a dialogue with global health leaders featuring the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; Director, Global TB Programme, WHO; Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID; Director, The Copenhagen Consensus; Chair of the Global TB Caucus; and the Director, ReAct Asia Pacific. Co-chaired by the Stop TB Board Vice-Chair and a Stop TB Board Member, the event had over 130 in attendance and also brought together DR-TB and other AMR survivors to discuss alignment, areas for increased collaboration, and how the TB response can advance action on AMR.A recording of the event is available here.
Launch of a new Governance of TB Report
On Wednesday 25th September, USAID and the Stop TB Partnership launched a new report titled “Governance of TB Programmes: Third Assessment of Practices in 21 countries”. This report is an important advocacy tool for National TB Programmes (NTPs) and civil society partners for improved governance of national TB responses. You can read more about the report and the launch event here.
The UN High-Level Meeting on AMR
The HLM on AMR took place on Thursday, 26th September and opened with world leaders adopting the Political Declaration on AMR, which recognized TB as a critical component of the global AMR response. The Declaration also underscored the urgent need for coordinated global action to combat AMR. Key highlights from the Declaration can be found in our news alert here.
Ten countries voiced TB as a key priority in their plenary speeches to the HLM, including Indonesia speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Countries to Fight TB, South Africa, Nigeria, Cambodia, Laos, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Chad, Kiribati and Slovakia.
“The Alliance reaffirms its commitment to the Political Declaration of the UN high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis held in 2023, with the aim of ending the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030,” said H.E. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Minister of Health for Indonesia, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Countries. His full statement can be found here.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer, Canada, stated that “addressing AMR is critical to ending the TB epidemic, delivering UHC, PPPR, and realizing the SDG goals,” and H.E. Muhammed Ali Pate, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Nigeria, stated “the challenge of DR-TB is one we cannot afford to ignore.” The Vice Health Minister of Laos, Dr. Phayvanh Keopaseuth, said "we are working on DR-TB with the Stop TB Partnership. Laos will continue working collaboratively with international partners to address the challenges posed by AMR."
Civil Society Participation in the HLM
Major concerns were also expressed by representatives of TB civil society and affected communities on the barriers to their involvement and participation in the HLM. Despite receiving confirmed accreditation and applying for registration ahead of the deadline over six weeks ago, many participants only received their registration confirmations one week before the event. Several civil society participants did not receive an update on the status of their registration until the day before the HLM.
Several civil society and community representatives who traveled to New York were informed that they could not participate in the HLM due to the lack of space, despite many seats being available throughout the meeting. No representatives from TB civil society or TB-affected communities were given the floor to speak during the two HLM multi-stakeholder panels, despite many civil society representatives in attendance, most of whom had submitted a request to make a statement.
