New York, 26 September 2018
The challenge of tuberculosis (TB) is faced worldwide, including across all of Europe and Central Asia. 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2017, and Heads of State are meeting today to discuss the matter at the UN General Assembly. TB kills more people each year than HIV and malaria combined. As one of the top ten leading causes of death TB deserves the highest political attention.
“I call on leaders of the world to commit to ending TB in their countries by allocating the necessary resources in their health budget, and involve us, civil society and communities in helping to reach the unacceptable 36% of people with TB who are still missed by health systems every year,” says Yuliya Chorna, the Executive Director of the TB Europe Coalition (TBEC).
Traditionally, people in many countries of the European region have been treated in hospitals for long periods from six months to two years. Patients have to suffer not only the burden and toxicity of a long-term treatment with heavy antibiotics but also being apart from their families, jobs and social lives.
“TB patients are no longer infectious by at most two weeks after they start and receive effective treatment. It is ridiculous that many programmes still isolate people from society for many months. No wonder people are afraid to seek a diagnosis. TB care has to be designed for and with people,” says Ksenia Shchenina, a former TB patient from Russia and Board Member of TBEC.
While European Heads of States are noticeable by their absence at the meeting, the WHO Europe region continues to be a hotspot for the spread of the multi-drug resistant (MDR) form of TB. Conservatism in the way TB is being treated in Europe and the lack of involvement of civil society and communities in TB care, who play a vital role for treatment adherence, has led to terrible figures in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Too many countries report rates of around 30% of new cases being multi-drug resistant. Furthermore, worldwide only 25% of people with drug-resistant TB are on treatment.
Yet we still don’t have the right tools to fight TB. Our leaders have not allocated the right amount of funds to develop new vaccines, diagnostics, and treatment. We continue to have an astonishing annual $1.3 billion gap in Research & Development for TB.
“While the European Union congratulates itself on allocating on average less than €30 million per year to TB research initiatives in the last four years, it should think of reorienting its priority setting in health research to a needs-driven approach. Our taxpayers’ money should go to funding priorities neglected by the private sector,” says Fanny Voitzwinkler, Chair of the TBEC Board.
The UN High-Level Meeting on TB held on 26 September 2018 is a time for action and unity. We need changes if we want to stop the millions of preventable deaths caused by TB. Civil society can contribute greatly to effective people-centred care, it wants to be involved and will be watching to make sure the commitments made by world leaders at the HLM will be put into practice.
Source: TB Europe Coalition
