The 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 74) brought all 193 UN Member States together to New York, United States to discuss critical global issues. This year’s General Assembly had a special focus on health with a dedicated high-level meeting on universal health coverage – the most comprehensive review of health issues done at this level. Along with universal health coverage, UNGA 74 included a Climate Action Summit, a Sustainable Development Goals Summit and a high-level dialogue on Financing for Development. The World Health Organization (WHO), Member States and key partners also continued to shine a spotlight on ending TB with various events organized on the sidelines of UNGA 74.
22 September, Walk the Talk
To mark the start of the high-level week, WHO, the City of New York and the UN organized a Walk The Talk event in the morning of 22 September. Thousands joined this first of its kind event in Central Park, New York. The event was opened by the First Lady of New York and WHO Director-General, with participation from the President of the 74th UN General Assembly, the President of Palau, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health Cynthia Germanotta, and President and CEO of Women Deliver among others.
22 September, official side-event on TB ‘Multisectoral action to take forward the commitments of the UN high-level meeting on tuberculosis’
The Russian Federation and WHO organized an official side-event to discuss how we can collectively advance multisectoral action and accelerate progress to keep the promises made at the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB (UNHLM on TB). Participants included Ministers of Health from Antigua and Barbuda, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Oman, Russian Federation, South Africa, Uganda, Viet Nam and Zambia. In addition, there was high-level participation from Malawi, Morocco and Nigeria, and leadership from WHO and key partner agencies present.
The Honourable Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Dr Veronika Skvortsova and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros opened the meeting. Jeff Acaba, a TB and HIV activist and member of the WHO Civil Society Taskforce on TB presented a civil society perspective of the progress made and on the remaining challenges ahead.
The first panel of the meeting focused on progress in countries. Ministers of Health and other national delegates presented an expansive view of their countries’ experience in working to end TB, including in areas of financing, fighting stigma and discrimination, addressing MDR TB and the TB/HIV co-epidemic and improving health systems. His Excellency Mr Aubrey Webson, the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda and cofacilitator of the UNHLM on TB made a moving appeal for countries and partners to act on the commitments and transform the lives of those struggling with TB.
This was followed by a discussion among key partners in the fight to end TB in the second panel, including International Federation of the Red Cross, Stop TB Partnership, The Global Fund, UNITAID and TB Alliance. Evaline Kibuchi of Stop TB Partnership Kenya and member of the WHO civil society task force stressed that ending TB will not be possible without the power of civil society to ensure implementation of declaration and to hold leaders accountable.
WHO Assistant Director-General Dr Ren Minghui rounded off the discussions with words of appreciation for the efforts demonstrated by those in the room. The frank and constructive discussions at the event were welcomed by participants. Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme, who moderated the event stated “the presence of high-level participants and WHO leadership at the event indicates that TB is still very much still on the agenda. We will make sure it remains firmly there until we successfully end TB”.
23 September, High-level meeting on universal health coverage
The following day, UN Member States committed to achieve UHC by 2030 at a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly. In adopting the declaration, Member States committed to advance towards UHC by investing in four major areas: robust financing mechanisms, high-impact services, a strong health workforce, and strengthened governance and institutional capacity.
Achieving UHC has been recognized as a vital part of a comprehensive response to ending TB, as reflected in the political declaration of the UNHLM on TB. The UHC declaration includes commitments to strengthen efforts to address communicable diseases, including TB, as part of UHC and to expand comprehensive approaches and integrated service delivery and ensure that no one is left behind.
24 September, Launch of Global Action Plan for Health and Well-being for All
Following the UHC high-level meeting, WHO and 11 other multilateral organizations – which collectively channel one-third of development assistance for health – launched their Global Action Plan for health and well-being for all. The plan will ensure the 12 partners provide more streamlined support to countries to help deliver universal health coverage and achieve the health-related SDG targets, including the target to End TB (SDG 3.3).
Other TB events on the sidelines of UNGA 74
22 September, ‘TB Innovation Summit’ co-organized by the Stop TB Partnership, PATH, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Fullerton Health Foundation, and the World Economic Forum
24 September, ‘UN High-Level Meetings on Health – Hitting The Targets Under Universal Health Coverage’ co-organized by Stop TB Partnership, The Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, the Royal Thai Government, UHC 2030, RBM Partnership to End Malaria, NCD Alliance and WHO.