38th Meeting of the Stop TB Partnership Board, Abuja, Nigeria

16 Dec 38th Meeting of the Stop TB Partnership Board, Abuja, Nigeria

Joint Statement of Community, Developing Country and Key & Vulnerable Populations, and Developed Country NGO Delegations

38^th Meeting of the Stop TB Partnership Board, Abuja, Nigeria

We thank the hosts of this year’s board meeting. Nigeria is committed to ending the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2030 and has a remarkable political commitment backed up by tremendous progress in efforts to eliminate tuberculosis (TB). We celebrate the leadership being demonstrated by Nigeria and other countries with a high TB burden today. On the heels of the International Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Conference, where the Government of Indonesia committed more than 5000 million USD to end TB by 2030, the urgency to commit to this decades-long struggle is clear. Nigeria, as host for the 38th meeting of the Stop TB Partnership Board, brings to the fore real-world challenges and

opportunities in the fight to end TB faced by countries with a high burden of disease. With clear advances in the diagnosis, treatment, care, and prevention of TB, the time is now to accelerate efforts to end TB with strong and unwavering commitment to action by all.

The Community, Developing Country NGO, KVP and Developed Country NGO Delegations are pleased to participate in the 38th Stop TB Partnership Board Meeting from 12 -14 December 2024. We note the Decision Points made during the Board meeting and express our strongest support for the direction, ambition and progress towards Ending TB that they express.

Following the UN high-level meeting on TB in 2023 and the UN High-level Meeting on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) in 2024, where TB was prominently included, the efforts by affected communities, non-governmental organizations and allies to focus the world’s attention on TB is very clear. The UNHLM political declarations from both meetings outlined the critical importance of country commitments, timely diagnosis, access to acceptable and affordable treatment, the protection of human rights, and the combating of stigma. We recommit to the work of elevating TB on global, regional, and national platforms. We seek new partners to join us in the ongoing efforts of our current partners in the challenge to eliminate TB, thereby preventing suffering and saving lives.

We must recognize and express our appreciation for the support provided to the Community Delegation, Developing Countries, KVP and Developed Countries NGO Delegation by USAID. Our ability to effectively advocate, engage our communities, heighten the visibility and political will of countries to embrace the challenge of TB elimination requires investment in community coordination, capacity building, and participation. We call on all other donors to step in to support our delegations with in-kind and financial investments so we are able to engage effectively in board meetings, as well as provide continuous support to the partnership. Consistent, reliable and sufficient support to all four delegations for meaningful engagement in the Board operations is an essential element of inclusive participation and representation of all TB stakeholders.

We congratulate the TB community for working in solidarity and making their voices heard on the efforts to change the Global Disease Split and increase the TB share as part of the TB33% campaign, and we are grateful to all advocates for their efforts. While we are pleased that the recent Global Fund Board Meeting did decide to adjust the Global Disease Split so that a higher percentage of funds above a minimum threshold would be indicated to countries to spend on addressing TB in their countries and we stand ready to support a bold and ambitious Replenishment of the Global Fund in 2025, we know that these changes will be insufficient on their own to address the serious challenges with funding TB.

As Stop TB Partnership constituencies, we strongly urge our colleagues at the Global Fund in the Communities and Developed and Developing constituencies to continue to press the Global Fund Secretariat and Partnership to apply every lever possible (many of which were spelt out in the Global Fund Decision Point 04 from the 46th Board Meeting) to increase funds available for TB within the Global Fund. Additionally, we would urge delegations at the Global Fund Board to support the review of CCMs, including pushing for stronger inclusion of key and vulnerable populations and communities affected by TB. It is critical that at the country level there are equal number of voices representing all 3 diseases directly contributing to the CCM processes.

A key issue remains the severe under-funding globally of the TB response. It is simply unacceptable to us that governments and funders are not doing enough to stem the tide of this curable disease for which we see positive and perhaps game-changing innovations on the horizon. Alongside that, we wish to invite colleagues in other Global Health Institutions (GHIs) to consider how TB KVP and communities are effectively and meaningfully engaged because we strongly believe that only with meaningful inclusion can acceleration of an equitable TB response occur.

The impact of CFCS funding cannot be overstated. We had called for this strategic mobilization and coordination for so long – and we congratulate the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat and partners for making it happen. We thank and applaud the current donors, USAID and L’Initiative supported by Expertise France whose visionary support has led to clear advances in community-led advocacy, community capacity building, community led monitoring, communities rights and gender, stigma reduction, and meaningful community participation in the TB response. We call on other partners in the TB response, including the Global Fund, Private Sector Constituency, Governments of Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and others for additional support to sustain and augment community-led efforts in the fight against TB.

TB vaccines are important for preventing TB and reducing the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The current BCG vaccine only protects children and infants, so new vaccines that are effective for all age groups are needed. The Global Forum on TB Vaccines held in Brazil was the world’s largest gathering of stakeholders striving to develop new vaccines to prevent TB. It provided a unique opportunity to review the state of the field, share the latest research and findings, and identify new and innovative approaches to TB vaccine R&D, with the end goal of developing and deploying new TB vaccines as quickly as possible. We appreciate that there are a number of vaccines in the pipeline and we strongly support the Board decision in the last STOP TB Board meeting to work towards TB vaccine by 2027 or earlier and we are committed to joining with other global players in achieving the target. We urge all partners to start working together now to advocate for and support an enabling environment for the concrete and practical development and delivery of TB vaccines and create opportunities to increase its financing.

Nutrition is a vital part of TB prevention, treatment and management. We strongly propose for nutrition screening, evaluation, support, and management are included in countries National Strategic Plans. Other social supports, such a transportation and psycho-social support are likewise important.

We applaud the recent Stop TB hackathons to end stigma, the TB stigma assessments being completed at country levels, the STP community award winners fighting stigma through art. The commitment to ending stigma by 2027 is clear, however, much work needs to be done to measure progress and understand, share, and deploy best practice interventions at the community level.

The Communities, Developing Countries and Developed Countries NGO Delegations would like to extend our significant appreciation to the Board and Secretariat of Stop TB Partnership in the preparation for this meeting, and for facilitating a meaningful space for our delegations to strategize and coordinate in advance of the Stop TB Partnership Board Meeting.

In addition to our calls to action presented above, to end TB, all of us working together in partnership must recall the calls to action from the Deadly Divide report published at the 36th Stop TB Board Meeting.

Finally, we applaud and thank our colleagues and our peers from Nigeria and the thousands of Civil Society members and TB communities who are making a change in people’s lives as their network continue to grow and thrive. They embody community leadership and a community movement that we are proud to be a part of and privileged to represent here today. They welcomed us and shared their vision for a way forward with the release of their Statement. We congratulate them and look forward to our continuing partnership.

From Abuja, Nigeria – Together we can end TB. Together we can realize a world without TB. Yes, We Can together End TB!!

Community Delegation to STP Board

Developing Country NGO Delegation to STP Board

Key and Vulnerable Population Delegation to STP Board

Developed Country NGO Delegation to STP Board