Providing life-saving treatment for up to 45 million people between 2023 and 2027, including up to 4.5 million kids and up to 1.5 million people with drug-resistant tuberculosis; provide up to 45 million people with preventive treatment, including 30 million household contacts of people with tuberculosis among others are the part of the political declaration that have been adopted by the UN at a high level meeting in New York.
According to a statement here, all the UN Member States adopted the declaration on the Fight Against Tuberculosis in New York at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The Declaration contains the most ambitious targets to date in the fight against TB. If countries follow through on their commitments, it will put the world on track to ending TB by 2030 and providing life-saving treatment for 45 million people between 2023 and 2027.
Member states also committed to increasing annual global TB funding levels to over four times the current level (USD5.4 billion) towards reaching USD22 billion annually by 2027, increasing to USD35 billion by 2030.
They agreed to mobilize this funding through domestic and international investment mechanisms, innovative financing mechanisms, and costed action plans. Member states also committed to mobilize USD5 billion a year by 2027 for tuberculosis research and innovation - a five times increase from the current USD1 billion a year - towards the development of point of care diagnostics, vaccines for all forms of tuberculosis, and shorter, safer and more effective treatment regimens.
Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership hoped that the commitments will be seriously implemented.
“This Declaration contains clear targets for the fight against TB. The TB community should be proud of their amazing work done to secure these targets.
However, we know commitments alone aren’t enough and Declarations will gather dust without further action. In 2018 member states promised to provide USD13 billion a year in annual TB funding by 2022, yet they’re providing less than half that amount – who is accountable for the failure to follow through on this promise?”, she said.
This is why we need strong accountability efforts and tools to hold leaders and all of us accountable to reaching their promises.
This starts with translating the global targets and commitments to national level, which Stop TB Partnership is currently working on, and ensuring civil society and TB communities have the resources and tools to ensure leaders follow through on their commitments, she added.