Messages, statements, opinion pieces and blog posts recognize World TB Day

World Health Organization: World TB Day message
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
Dr Tereza Kasaeva, WHO Global TB Program Director

“In the end, we must remember that the war against TB will not be won at meetings in Moscow, Delhi or New York. It will be won in communities. It will not be won with declarations. It will be won by nurses, doctors, community health workers and others at the frontlines. Our job is to give them the resources they need to find every last person with TB, to diagnose them, to treat them, and to cure them. That’s the measure of success”.

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United Nations: ‘Bold action’ needed to end tuberculosis, AIDS – UN
"The UN is calling on all partners to take unprecedented and bold action to advance efforts to end TB and AIDS by 2030."

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The Lancet: The Lancet Commission on tuberculosis: building a tuberculosis-free world
Eric Goosby, U.N. secretary general’s special envoy on tuberculosis and member of the Gilead Health Policy Advisory Board, and colleagues

“…The U.N.’s High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis … represents a unique opportunity to secure a commitment from heads of state and governments for a coordinated global response to end the epidemic. The Lancet Commission on tuberculosis aims to identify decisive global and country-specific actions necessary to ensure the success of that response. These recommendations will address the following priorities. First and foremost, the global community needs to pivot to bold new strategies to address the tremendous burden of disease. … Second, creating an enabling environment is essential to successfully ending tuberculosis. … Third, investing in research and development must be a global priority. … Finally, countries need to dedicate substantial resources to implement strategies to end tuberculosis. … [E]nding tuberculosis is possible with better science, improved health systems, increased and sustainable financing, and renewed political will…”.

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Devex: Q&A: What does 2018 hold for the fight against TB?
Speaking to Devex ahead of World TB Day, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership Lucica Ditiu pinpointed what she sees as key to making the UN High-Level Meeting a success, and explored priorities in financing, data, and awareness raising as the fight against TB moves forward.

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The Union: A message from José Luis Castro, Executive Director, The Union
“The world must re-evaluate its response to TB and give it the status of a public health emergency”

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UNAIDS: UNAIDS calls for bold action to end TB and AIDS
“The world has the resources to end the interlinked epidemics of tuberculosis and HIV, but political commitment and country action are lacking,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “Political, religious and civil society leaders need to step up to guarantee everyone the right to breathe, to live free from tuberculosis and AIDS.”

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Unitaid: Unitaid’s investments support global drive to end TB
"On the occasion of World TB Day, Unitaid wishes to reassert its commitment to ending tuberculosis, with special consideration for the estimated 1 million children who are among the most vulnerable and neglected victims of this curable disease."

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European Commission: Statement ahead of World TB Day by Commissioners Andriukaitis, Moedas, Thyssen and Mimica
"On the eve of World Tuberculosis Day, we underline our commitment to ending the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030. We call on governments all over the world to redouble their efforts and make this happen."

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WHO Regional Office for Europe: Time for revamped commitment by all to end TB
The European Region theme for World TB Day 2018 is “Time for revamped commitment by all”, focused on the investment case for TB and revamped political commitment for immediate and bold actions. This theme links to the global theme “Wanted: leaders for a TB-free world. You can make history. End TB.” Along with political commitment, it is vital to build commitment to end TB at all levels.

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WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia: Message from Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia
Region-wide leadership to achieve a TB-free world is to be commended. Global support can accelerate grassroots progress.

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WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean: World TB Day 2018. Leaders for a TB-free world
Dr Jaouad Mahjour, acting WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, noted that TB continued to represent a grave threat to public health and much more needed to be done to achieve the End TB Strategy and targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. He highlighted regional progress in the fight against TB saying “Our Region is one of four WHO regions that met the target to halve the tuberculosis mortality rate by 2015 compared with 1990 estimates”.

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WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific: TB down in past decade; universal health coverage key to faster progress
“The TB rate is coming down in the Region, but it’s not happening fast enough. We need to do much more to achieve our goal of ending the epidemic once and for all,” says Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.

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National Institutes of Health: NIH Statement on World Tuberculosis Day 2018
Statement of Christine F. Sizemore, Ph.D., Richard Hafner, M.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

"Today, in commemoration of World TB Day, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), renews and reinvigorates its commitment to the research needed to end this ancient scourge."

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CDC’s “Our Global Voices”: Message from Hank Tomlinson, PhD, acting director of CDC’s Division of Global HIV & TB
In his World TB Day message, Hank Tomlinson, acting director of CDC’s Division of Global HIV & TB, says, “…As leaders come together on World TB Day and again at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB in September, the time has come to double down on our TB prevention programs and investments. Today, we have the tools to turn the tide against the TB epidemic; the question is, do we have the political will? I’m convinced the answer is yes.” The page also includes links to a video and other World TB Day resources.

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The Parliament Magazine: Time to consign TB to the history books
Ivan Solovic, National Institute for TB, Lung Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Vysne Hagy, Catholic University Ruzomberok, Ruzomberok, Slovakia, and Raquel Duarte, EPI Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal on behalf of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Ad hoc Working Group on TB Advocacy

"If we are to meet the sustainable development goals to end TB by 2030, it is crucial that the European Union also plays its part in the battle. Two years after the end of the EU action plan on TB, little has been done on the creation of the new integrated policy framework addressing HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis C. The European Parliament resolution on the EU’s response to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis C, adopted in July 2017 is a significant step but the NGO community is still waiting for a TB, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C policy framework adressing each disease’s specificities. An integrated and comprehensive approach is urgently needed to meet the challenges posed by TB in terms of prevention, treatment and care and the allocation of adequate funding to research in the European Union and neighboring countries."

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EURACTIV: EU leaders – Making Europe the world leader on global health must beyour legacy
Cecile Vernant, Head of EU office for Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung (DSW)

"A revolution in funding for diseases of poverty is what is needed, if Europe is serious about defeating TB. By supporting these key recommendations, European leaders would not only be answering the call for global health leadership this World TB Day, but they could also ensure that their legacy – and the legacy of the EU’s research agenda in the next decade – is one of millions of lives saved. We will be watching and waiting to congratulate them."

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Médecins Sans Frontières: Governments still not doing enough to scale up access to newer TB drugs
Sharonann Lynch, HIV & TB Advisor, MSF Access Campaign

"Five years ago, we saw a ray of hope with two new drugs to treat tuberculosis: bedaquiline and delamanid. These medicines promised a more effective treatment regimen for multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), offering shorter, all-oral treatment with fewer side effects and better clinical outcomes. Unfortunately, uptake of these newer drugs has been abysmally slow. The majority of people treated for MDR-TB continue to receive older medicines that can cause sever side effects - such as deafness and psychosis - and cure only 50% of people who receive them. As a treatment provider, MSF is disheartened to see governments still not doing enough to scale up access to newer drugs that provide a real chance of survival for people who continue to die from the world's leading infectious disease killer. It's way past time to step up and treat TB."

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Médecins Sans Frontières: Fighting TB: A global health emergency
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been fighting TB for more than 30 years and is among the biggest treatment providers. Dr. Francis Varaine, leader of the MSF working group on TB, explains what more should be done—and why the failure to make progress is, above all, a political issue.

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PLOS Blogs: WANTED! Leaders who will dare ask what tuberculosis patients really want
Ahead of  World Tuberculosis Day, Bern-Thomas Nyang’wa of Médecins Sans Frontières discusses the importance of considering patients’ preferences when evaluating new treatment regimens.

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Global Coalition of TB Activists (GCTA): World TB Day statement from civil society and affected communities in India
From TB Survivors to TB Champions – standing together to end TB

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Inter Press Service: Ending TB Epidemic Among Youth: Key to Achieving SDGs
David Bryden, TB advocacy officer at RESULTS Educational Fund

“…Tuberculosis (TB) … poses a major risk for young people in countries with high prevalence of TB, and schools are among the places where they are most likely to catch it. … Urgent action is needed … First, active steps must be taken to find and provide person-centered treatment to everyone with active TB disease, including in school settings … Second, … we must rapidly identify anyone who has been in contact with people with active TB and provide a course of preventive antibiotic treatment. … Third, improving ventilation and reducing overcrowding in school settings … is critically important. … Fourth, we must raise TB awareness … Finally, governments must do more to establish adolescent-accessible health services, to meet the special needs of this group, including their vulnerability to TB infection and disease, as well as to other risks such as HIV…”

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ACTION: On World TB Day, health advocates call on global leaders to commit to ending the disease
“ACTION global health advocacy partnership is observing World Tuberculosis (TB) Day with new calls on world leaders to prioritize ending the disease. … After years of being overlooked, TB is finally becoming a political priority on the world stage…”.

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Friends of the Global Fight: On World TB Day, innovating to fight the world’s most deadly infectious disease
Berk Ehrmantraut, communications intern at Friends of the Global Fight, discusses ways the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is addressing TB detection and treatment, writing, “[F]inding innovative ways to identify missing cases is an opportunity to make huge gains in the TB fight. Fortunately, the Global Fund is focused on tackling this very issue. … They are pursuing this goal through the TB Catalytic Investment initiative…”.

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Forum of International Respiratory Societies: Statement from FIRS for World TB Day – 24 March 2018
Forum of International Respiratory Societies calls on governments for political commitment and action to end TB

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The Lancet: Addressing social determinants to end tuberculosis
Tom Wingfield, clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, and colleagues

“…Despite renewed interest in addressing the social determinants of tuberculosis, there remains a stark global disparity in disease burden and access to care. Low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the highest tuberculosis burden and people with tuberculosis are often vulnerable and impoverished. Conversely, in high-income countries, improvements in living conditions, increased social expenditure per person, and strategies to address the social determinants of health have been associated with decreased tuberculosis prevalence. WHO’s 2015 End TB Strategy acknowledges the need to reduce inequalities in tuberculosis prevention and care, including through provision of social protection and poverty alleviation for households affected by tuberculosis. … To end tuberculosis, medicines must be integrated with socioeconomic interventions that fight poverty”.

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The Hill: Rise in tuberculosis highlights broader global health security concerns
Jennifer Nuzzo and Diane Meyer, faculty at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and members of the Outbreak Observatory project team

“Global health leaders are paying close attention to the recent resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) in Venezuela, recognizing that the rise of a deadly infectious disease anywhere in the world is of international concern. Unfortunately, … support among policymakers about the importance of investing globally to prevent infectious diseases is trending in the wrong direction. This outbreak is the latest reminder of the urgent need for governments to boost funding for initiatives that bolster the front lines of epidemic prevention and response. … If countries are not well equipped to control routine infectious diseases, they will likely be unable to adequately contain epidemic threats such as pandemic influenza, Zika, or Ebola. … Efforts to strengthen public health capacities to improve TB control could not only help to decrease the global burden of TB, but also strengthen global health security more broadly…”

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R&E SEARCH for EVIDENCE: Recent research contributes to ending TB
Corey White, managing editor of R&E SEARCH for EVIDENCE, writes that effectively addressing TB “can include things like transporting viable patient samples to the testing laboratory, using appropriate medications in proper doses, or developing shorter treatment regimens,” and he “highlight[s] three innovative research papers that address these sometimes overlooked issues within resource-limited settings”.