On the eve before the First WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Moscow, Lancet Global Health published a Commentary on the Conference and the political spotlight on TB in the global political agenda.
“There has been a groundswell of political recognition of tuberculosis which is the top infectious killer today. Two high level events- the Ministerial Conference on Ending TB which is being held on 16-17 November 2017 and the very first UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on TB in 2018 are unprecedented in the history of the TB response. We hope this will drive acceleration and change in the global and national efforts to end the TB epidemic.”
The Commentary published in Lancet Global Health highlights the four clear expectations from health ministers and all partners gathering at the ministerial conference in Moscow. First, speed up universal coverage of care and prevention for tuberculosis, HIV-associated tuberculosis, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the context of the global agendas of antimicrobial resistance, health security, and SDGs, while ensuring that equity, ethics, and human rights are recognised as urgent concerns and are protected and promoted. Second, enable sufficient and sustained financing for the full response from strengthened domestic and external sources. Third, urgently increase coordinated investments in research and innovations. Finally, and most importantly, to drive real action built on written commitments, a multisectoral accountability framework needs to be prepared and adhered to. This framework needs to encompass all dimensions of the tuberculosis response and enable not just measuring progress towards ending tuberculosis, but also timely reviewing of results through government and civil society accountability mechanisms at national and global levels, as well as taking corrective actions.
Read the commentary online: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(17)30449-7/fulltext?elsca1=tlxpr
Source: WHO TB NewsFlash