The Union’s President, Dr Jeremiah Chakaya Muhwa, addressed the high-level leadership at the first-ever UN HLM on TB, held on 26 September in New York.
Speaking on a multi-stakeholder panel chaired by Prof Isaac Folorunso Adewole, Nigerian Minister of Health, and Dr David Sergeenko, Georgian Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs, Dr Chakaya made three proposals: revolutionise prevention, increase demand for TB services, and create the space for engaging new partners through TB Prevention Month.
Let’s revolutionise TB prevention, increase demand for TB services and create the space for engaging new partners.
The UN HLM produced an historic political declaration with specific, measurable milestones to achieve by 2022. By adopting this declaration, national leaders have said they recognise TB as a challenge they are committed to solving and have promised to take specific actions.
In the year leading up to the HLM, The Union worked with partners and stakeholders to contribute to the drafting of the political declaration and campaign for key outputs from the meeting. The Union continued to work with the TB community following the meeting to establish a mechanism for monitoring progress and holding governments accountable for delivering on their commitments.