World TB Day, this year, is a forerunner to the most historic event in the fight to end TB. In September 2018, Heads-of-State will come together at the first-ever United Nations (UN) General Assembly High-Level Meeting (UN HLM) on TB in New York. This will be the fourth health issue the UN has called for a high-level meeting on ― following the one on HIV/AIDS, on noncommunicable diseases, and on antimicrobial resistance. TB will be in the highest political spotlight for the first time, close on the heels of a successful Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Moscow in November 2017, which resulted in high-level commitments from Ministers and other leaders from 120 countries, and over 800 partners, including civil society, to end TB. This was followed by the Delhi End TB Summit in early March which resulted in a Statement of Action from 11 Ministers of Health from the WHO South-East Asia Region.
Given the political significance of this year, the theme for World TB Day is “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world”. The call aims to build commitment to end TB at all levels, from the highest political level with Heads of State and Ministers of Health, Mayors, Governors, parliamentarians and community leaders, to people affected with TB, civil society advocates, health workers, doctors or nurses, NGOs and other partners.
I would like to quote WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who illustrates this call in a powerful way:
“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”.
World TB Day around the world
Countries and regions have echoed the World TB Day call around the world, including in countries like Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Brazil, Viet Nam, Ukraine, India, Russia – the list goes on.
Geneva → We kicked off activities on Monday, 19 March, with a visit to the International School in Geneva where we spoke to children about TB and encouraged them to become End TB Leaders, they excitedly agreed to become TB ambassadors.
A special event was organized at WHO Headquarters during the afternoon of 19 March, featuring top WHO leadership – Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director-General Programmes, Dr Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General (ADG) Communicable Diseases, Dr Naoko Yamamoto, ADG for Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Dr Svetlana Akselrod, ADG Non Communicable Diseases, WHO HIV Department, and partners including the Stop TB Partnership, IOM and IFRC. The event focused on the World TB Day theme and how to unite efforts to end TB on the way to achieving UHC.
New York → To focus more attention on the upcoming UNHLM on TB, we organized a special briefing for country missions to the UN. Around a hundred people joined the World TB Day commemoration, including Ambassadors, deputy ambassadors, counsellors and staff from over 50 missions – despite New York being affected by a massive snow storm. The event was co-sponsored by WHO, Stop TB Partnership, US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the missions of Japan, Antigua & Barbuda, Brazil, and the Russian Federation.
High-level speakers from the offices of the President of the General Assembly, the office of the UN Secretary General, UN Special Envoy on TB- Dr Eric Goosby, UNAIDS, USAID, the missions of Japan, Brazil, Russian Federation, Stop TB, UNICEF, and two TB survivors and advocates: Ingrid Schoeman and Jeffry Acaba, spoke passionately at the event highlighting the importance of the upcoming UN high level meeting on TB. Ambassador Korro Bessho from the Mission of Japan to the United Nations, welcomed participants on behalf of both Japan and Antigua & Barbuda who are co-facilitators of the UN High Level Meeting on TB. He announced that the UNHLM on TB would be held on 26 September 2018, and outlined the process in the lead up to the event. At the close of the event, a special installation was unveiled by high level dignitaries, launching the push to the UNHLM on TB. The installation is a 3D replica of the SDG-End TB logo & red arrow. The installation will stay at the UN lobby till the UNHLM in September.
Following this, we began making our way to Nigeria on 22 March to join the country's World TB Day commemorations. Nigeria is a top TB burden country, but also one that is making inroads against the disease. A week of World TB Day events were organized in the country ranging from engagement of parliamentarians, to active involvement of communities. Unfortunately due to a severe storm in New York and resulting bad travel connections, we couldn't make it there on time despite our best efforts. We commemorate World TB Day with them in spirit. We hope to visit and establish strong linkages with Nigeria and other high-TB countries in the near future, to accelerate the End TB response.
On our return to Geneva, we organized a Facebook Live Q&A session on 23 March through the WHO Facebook page. We received over 7000 views in the 30 minutes we were online, with nearly 200 questions. Please check out the video of the session here: World TB Day Facebook Live.
At the close of this week, I am grateful for the passionate engagement and dedication of the TB team not only at headquarters but across countries and regions, as well as that of partners, in this special effort to end TB.
At this first World TB Day commemoration for me as Director of the WHO Global TB Programme, I am filled with hope. Hope - that this extraordinary week will set the ball rolling to an extraordinary year and many more to come, till we ultimately wipe out TB. I hope that soon we will not just commemorate World TB Day, but that by raising our collective voices and uniting our efforts to accelerate the End TB response, we can look forward to a future when we can celebrate “TB-Free World Day”.
I am stepping forward as a leader for a TB-free world and commit to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those affected, and those at the frontlines of the fight against TB.
Join me – together we will end TB.
