To end TB, we must have a response that is people-centered, human-rights-based and gender-responsive. We must build a global movement that demands the promotion and protection of human rights in all aspects of the TB response.
In 2018, the Stop TB Partnership established a TB and human rights discussion group that meets virtually each month. The purpose of the discussion group is to unpack, explore, strategize, and coordinate on key issues, challenges, and opportunities for advancing a human-rights-based response to TB.
Participants are from all regions of the world and include people affected by TB, civil society activists, lawyers, and human rights and gender experts.
If you are a human rights champion, we hope that you can join the discussion group and help advance TB policies and programs that promote and protect human rights. If you would like to join the group or have suggested topics for discussion, please email ta@stoptb.org.
The specific aims of the discussion group are to:
- Explore human rights issues, including human rights violations, gender equity, stigma and discrimination, community monitoring, universal access for TB key populations and people affected by TB, and community engagement, among other areas;
- Analyze and overcome barriers and challenges experienced by people affected by TB through strategizing on effective responses and solutions to advance a human-rights-based and gender-transformative TB response; and
- Capacitate and mobilize TB-affected communities and human rights activists as part of a unified global movement to shift the paradigm and realize a people-centered, human-rights-based and gender-transformative TB response.
Recent TB Human Rights Group discussions:
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TB Civil Society and TB Affected Community Consultation on post-2021 Global AIDS Strategy |
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TB remains the biggest killer of people living with HIV (PLHIV). Prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of TB among PLHIV is therefore a priority for both the HIV and TB responses. |
UNAIDS Consultation - Audio file 1 (Morning) |
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TB & prisons |
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With over 10 million people detained of their liberty globally, and with many prisons currently holding over three times their capacity, understanding health in prisons and other detention settings is critical for the TB response. Speakers from South Africa, Brazil, Azerbaijan, and Kenya discuss human rights, TB and prisons, and the need for people deprived of their liberty to have access to quality health and TB services for prevention, testing, diagnosis, treatment, care, and support. Participants explore examples and tools of what a rights-based response to TB in prisons can entail. Speakers include Justice Edwin Cameron, formally of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership; Karabo Rafube, advocate, former inmate, and TB survivor; Harry Hausler, TB/HIV Care South Africa; Pollyanna Alves, National Justice Council of Brazil; Elchin Mukhtarli, Saglamliga Khidmat Azerbaijan; Lisa Owina and George Mutina, KELIN Kenya. |
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TB & gender |
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The UN Political Declaration on TB includes commitments to achieving gender equity and gender-sensitive TB programming. This webinar provides a snapshot of country efforts in India, United Republic of Tanzania, and Nigeria to strengthen national TB programs by integrating gender-sensitive policies and programs. The webinar begins with introductions from Lucica Ditiu and Marina Smelyanskaya from the Stop TB Partnership, emphasizing the importance of integrating gender into TB responses and highlighting that understanding prevalence is just one part of a discussion that must also include issues of access to services, behavioral and cultural norms, and the implications for health. Olayide Akanni, Journalists Against AIDS, then discusses the comprehensive Nigeria TB Gender Assessment and its basis in informing the Global Fund Funding Request. Next, Dr Emmanuel Matechi from the National TB Program (NTP) in the United Republic of Tanzania engages and discusses the important role civil society played in helping the NTP to develop a national CRG Action Plan, building on the national TB Gender Assessment. Anupama Srinivasan, REACH India, then explains how, in India, the TB program has developed a gender-sensitive framework to further integrate TB into the national program and Kitso Phiri, from BoLAMA, calls on us to reflect on the relationship between gender and key populations – with a particular focus on miners and their families. Heather Doyle from the Global Fund CRG Team then reflects on how the progress of gender in TB has been reflected in Global Fund funding requests and what more we can do together to further strengthen this area. To conclude, Anna Versfeld discusses the development of a Gender Investment Package that will provide programmatic and budget advice for countries to further integrate gender into TB programs, including through Global Fund grants. |
TB & Gender Discussion Group Audio file |
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The Universal Periodic Review |
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The UPR and the Human Rights Council are existing mechanisms through which civil society can engage UN Member States regarding human rights concerns, including the UN Political Declaration on TB commitments. The discussion features Nicoletta Zappile, UPR Info Org, Gisa XX TAG and David Ruiz, Aidfonds |
UPRSessions.aspx |
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TB & people with disabilities |
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People with disabilities face many barriers to accessing health and TB services. Mental health support, rehabilitation, and reintegration into communities require more attention. Speakers: Michael Miiro, MADIPHA; Mike Frick, TAG; Louie Zepeda, Philippines; Stefan Radut, ASPTMR |
audio_only.zip (6 February 2019) |
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The Nairobi Strategy on TB & Human Rights |
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The Nairobi Strategy is a framework for realizing a human-rights-based TB response. Speakers include Timur Abdullaev, TBpeople; Allan Maleche, KELIN; Brian Citro, Northwestern University |
Nairobi Strategy on TB & Human Rights Brief |
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Litigation, TB, and prisoners as key populations |
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Litigation is an avenue for addressing human rights violations. In Malawi, litigation has commenced to protect the rights of universal access for people in prisons. Discussion from Lynette Mabote, ARASA, Thoko Nkhoma, FACT and John Stephens, O’Neill Institute |
Key Populations Brief - Prisoners |
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National TB laws & human rights |
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This discussion on national TB laws and the promotion and protection of human rights features Brian Citro exploring key considerations for TB laws; Kitso Phiri discussing the place of marginalized communities, particularly miners; Stefan Radut speaking on the perspective of TB survivors and the experience in Romania; Mara Quesada unpacking TB and HIV laws in the Philippines; and Cintia Dantas describing the role of the Global TB Caucus and MPs in taking forward the priorities of civil society and affected communities. |
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Access to medicines & diagnostics |
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TB medicines and diagnostics must be accessible, affordable, safe, quality, and affordable. This ought to be irrespective of where someone lives or how they identify. This discussion has a focus on India and features: Sreenivas Nair from the Stop TB Partnership – overview; Leena Menghaney, Médecins Sans Frontières – advocacy campaign on bedaquiline; Nandita Venkatesan – what access means from the perspective of a TB survivor; Mike Frick, TAG – exploring opportunities for reforming models of public investments; and Kajal Bhardwaj, co-author of the India TB Legal Environment Assessment – contextualizing the entire discussion within a human rights framework. |
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TB Community Champions Knowledge Exchange Webinar (Philippines and India) |
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TB-affected communities and civil society are at the heart of the TB response. To end TB, we will need to invest in the capacity, coordination, and participation of TB-affected community actors in all parts of the TB response. In this Human Rights Discussion Group, join REACH India, ACHIEVE Philippines, National TB Programs in India and Philippines, USAID, WHO and the Stop TB Partnership for a knowledge exchange on TB Champions – how to continue to grow the movement in India, and how Philippines can learn from the experience in India, with the aim of building a strong and resilient TB-affected community movement for change. |
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