Speeding up efforts to eradicate TB

The Ministers of Health of countries in the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region recently committed to renew and accelerate efforts to end tuberculosis (TB), because of the pandemic disrupting services and leading to an increase in TB cases in the already high-burden region.

Despite being preventable and treatable, TB kills more than a million people every year, almost half of them in the WHO South East-Asia Region. We must intensify our effort towards ending TB. Therefore, immediate steps are needed to scale-up preventive, diagnostic and treatment services for TB, and significantly bolster social protection measures while specifically addressing undernutrition among the vulnerable populations.

The Ministers committed to multi-sectoral and whole of society approach to end TB with national programs led by the highest possible political level and closely monitored for targets. They agreed to increase budgetary and human resource allocations including upfront investments required to catch up on the lost ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is estimated that US$ 3 billion may be needed annually to implement a comprehensive set of interventions required to end TB in the region.

The Ministerial statement called for ensuring the highest attainable standards of rights-based, stigma-free, quality-assured and people-centric services. It emphasised that preventive, diagnostic, treatment, rehabilitative and palliative care, should be accessible to all including migrants, prisoners, children, the aged and other high-risk populations such as people with TB/HIV co-infection.

It called for social support to TB patients and their families from the time of development of symptoms, to diagnosis till the successful treatment completion and in some cases beyond treatment to address the sequelae, to achieve the goal of eliminating catastrophic financial losses.

The Ministerial statement emphasised on empowerment and engagement of community and civil society representatives in planning, monitoring, organising and providing for such support to ensure a people-centred response.