Dear Friends, Colleagues and Partners,
As 2019 comes to an end, I am inspired by the global solidarity and energy of the TB community including countries, partners and civil society, to transform high-level commitments made at the UN High-Level Meeting in September 2018 into concrete action.
Over 58 million lives have been saved since the year 2000. This year, more people than ever before (7 million) received access to life-saving care for TB, due to improved detection, diagnosis and treatment. This enabled the world to meet one of the milestones towards the targets for 2018-2022 that were set in the UN High-Level Meeting political declaration on TB. WHO’s Global TB Report highlighted a reduction in the number of TB deaths.
WHO and its leadership have contributed to these achievements through proactive high-level advocacy with Heads of State, Ministers and other leaders to accelerate national TB responses, improve access to care and scale up civil society engagement. WHO has developed new policies and guidelines to ensure better outcomes for those affected, tackle drug-resistant TB, scale up access to TB preventive treatment and new diagnostic tools, backed by technical support to enable implementation in countries. The WHO Multisectoral Accountability Framework for TB launched in May 2019 is already being adapted and implemented in countries, with national accountability bodies/mechanisms being set up. WHO has developed a Global Strategy for TB Research and Innovation in consultation with Member States, national TB programmes, research networks, funders, civil society and other partners that will be considered for adoption by the World Health Assembly in 2020. Civil society engagement has been stronger than ever before through WHO’s Civil Society Task Force on TB. All these and other efforts contribute to reaching the End TB targets including those of the WHO Director-General's Flagship Initiative "Find.Treat.All. #EndTB" with Stop TB Partnership and the Global Fund, as well as the triple billion targets of WHO's General Programme of Work.
Despite progress, much remains to be done: the short five-year window of opportunity to 2022 is rapidly closing. We need to step up efforts to increase access to prevention and care, address financing gaps, intensify research and innovation, break the burden of stigma and discrimination, and reach the most vulnerable to ensure no one is left behind. We need health systems and national TB programmes to be strengthened to provide essential services, and for civil society to be meaningfully engaged.
This coming year, a UN Secretary-General report will be presented to the General Assembly on progress towards ending TB. WHO, as requested in the UN High-Level Meeting political declaration, is developing this report with inputs from countries, partners and civil society.
We, at the WHO Global TB Programme, would like to thank all of you for your strong collaboration and partnership this year. Your contribution to our work on policy development and implementation, joint support to countries, monitoring and evaluation, research and advocacy has been critical. A special gift is on its way to you - our new WHO Global TB Report App - to have access to the latest TB data at your fingertips.
We would like to thank core donors and contributors to the work of WHO Global TB Programme during 2019: United States Government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) & the US Center for Disease Control (US CDC), Netherlands, Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea, Japan, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Stop TB Partnership/UNOPS, European Respiratory Society, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bristol Myers and Squibb Foundation Inc., and Eli Lilly Foundation.
We express our gratitude to our senior leadership including to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Deputy Director-General Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Assistant Director-General Dr Ren Minghui, Regional Directors and colleagues in WHO regional and country offices, for prioritizing efforts to end TB in the spirit of ONE WHO.
Dear friends, I believe that our collective actions have been instrumental in making a difference for the millions of people who are struggling with TB around the world. Ending TB should be in the spotlight every day, month and year, for every person, family and community affected, until we wipe out this top infectious disease killer once and for all. I look forward to the coming year and beyond with optimism and preparedness to work even harder.
Best wishes to you, your colleagues and loved ones. Happy holidays, and a happy, healthy and fruitful 2020!
Dr Tereza Kasaeva
Director, Global TB Programme
World Health Organization