In less than a year, the fight to end TB has been in the spotlight twice with two high level meetings: the first WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era: A Multisectoral Response held in Moscow in November 2017 and the first-ever United Nations High Level Meeting on the fight to end TB held in New York in September 2018.
Today marks one year, to when over 1000 participants including 80 Ministers and leaders from 120 countries and partners came together at the first WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB. The TB epidemic and its deadly impact on millions worldwide received high level attention with unprecedented commitments made by Ministers to increase multisectoral action to end this top infectious killer, as well as track progress and build accountability. President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation opened the Conference, together with Amina J Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General and Professor Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Health, Russian Federation.
In his opening remarks at the Ministerial Conference, Dr Tedros stated “Today marks a critical landmark in the fight to end TB. It signals a long overdue global commitment to stop the death and suffering caused by this ancient killer."
The conference resulted in Moscow Declaration to End TB, the commitments of which were supported by all Member States in a World Health Assembly resolution in 2018. It substantively informed the major themes and outcomes of the UN high-level meeting on TB.
“This is an extraordinary time for the fight to end TB, which began with the WHO Global Ministerial Conference that brought together Ministers of Health and other sectors to commit to ramp up the fight to end TB, that then culminated in the first-ever UN High Level Meeting on TB that elevated the fight to the level of Heads of State in New York”, said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “Thanks to the impetus provided through the Ministerial Conference, we have made significant strides forward to accelerate the End TB response in countries and globally”.
One-minute Flashback Video on the WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB:
Progress since the Ministerial Conference
The past twelve months have seen unparalleled attention to the fight to end TB, including beyond the health sector. Countries and regions began adopting and implementing the commitments made in Moscow in earnest. WHO has been working closely with countries, partners and civil society to support them in translating the commitments made in the Moscow Declaration into concrete action:
• Support is being provided to countries to implement and roll out key policies and guidelines released by WHO. In 2018, two important guidelines were released to help countries transition towards new and better treatments for drug-resistant TB and latent TB infection. New roadmaps on ending TB in children and adolescents, as well as to scale up private sector engagement to end TB were also released to strengthen action on these issues.
• Over 30 missions have been undertaken to high TB burden countries to secure commitment and investment at the highest level, as well as from other sectors to drive action.
• Progress in countries is regularly being tracked, including on SDG indicators and surveillance is being strengthened to build accountability. The 2018 Global TB Report was released a week in advance of the UN High Level Meeting to help Heads of State and other leaders prepare statements.
• In line with the Moscow Declaration, WHO worked in consultation with countries and partners to develop a draft multisectoral accountability framework to track and review progress on ending TB. This draft framework was supported by the World Health Assembly and the UN High Level Meeting political declaration. WHO is continuing to develop the framework with inputs from Member States and partners, while in parallel adapting and implementing the framework in countries and regions.
• A new joint initiative between WHO, the Stop TB Partnership and The Global Fund, called FIND.TREAT.ALL#ENDTB was launched at the Delhi End TB Summit. This is now one of the flagship initiatives of the WHO Director-General and is being taken up by countries.
• WHO is working with countries, partners, and other stakeholders including civil society in the development of a global strategy on research and innovation as requested by the World Health Assembly.
• The WHO Director-General and the Global TB Programme have been meeting and consulting with civil society representatives on a regular basis, including during country visits/missions, since the first meeting on the sidelines of the Ministerial Conference. WHO together with the Stop TB Partnership, supported the President of the General Assembly in holding a successful interactive civil society hearing on 4 June 2018 at the United Nations Headquarters, with stakeholders from affected communities and civil society, academia, private sector, UN agencies, philanthropy and others in preparation for the high-level meeting. WHO is working towards strengthening engagement with civil society through a revitalized WHO taskforce.
• The first-ever UN High Level Meeting was a monumental success with its political declaration and ambitious targets supported by Heads of State and government, Ministers, eminent leaders and passionate TB survivors. WHO and partners supported the President of the UN General Assembly and the Secretary-General, in holding this meeting.
• The whole year featured important events which generated awareness and media/social media coverage, including on the occasion of World TB Day, side events at the World Health Assembly, the meeting of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for TB and the End TB Strategy Summit which brought together national TB programme managers and communicable disease directors from 30 high TB burden countries held on the side-lines of the Union World Conference on Lung Health at The Hague.
Looking ahead
We now have high-level political commitments with the Moscow Declaration and the UN High Level Meeting Declaration; it is now time to work together in a renewed global agenda to turn the tide on TB. WHO reaffirms its commitment and looks forward to working with countries, partners and civil society to make the vision of a world free of TB a reality.