Європейська коаліція по боротьбі з ТБ звертається до вас із закликом підписати лист від громадянського суспільства до Правління Глобального фонду для боротьби зі СНІДом, туберкульозом та малярією.
Правління Глобального фонду збереться наступного тижня, щоб ухвалити рішення з кількох важливих питань, включаючи так званий глобальний спліт із захворювань – частку ресурсів, які Глобальний фонд розподіляє між трьома захворюваннями. Ми закликаємо Правління збільшити обсяг ресурсів, що виділяються на боротьбу з туберкульозом, що можливе без шкоди для прогресу у боротьбі з двома іншими захворюваннями.
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Dear colleagues, TB Europe Coalition is asking you to sign-on to a civil society letter to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Global Fund Board meets next week to decide on several important issues including the so-called Global Disease Split – proportion of resources the Global Fund allocates between the three diseases. We call upon the Board to increase the resource allocation to the TB response which is possible without jeopardizing the progress in other two diseases.
8 November 2021
To the Global Fund Board Chair and Vice-Chair, Board Constituencies
Re: Global Disease Split
We, representatives of civil society involved in TB and HIV responses on the global, regional and national levels, call upon the Global Fund to significantly and meaningfully increase attention and resources to the global TB response.
Tuberculosis has long been the world’s deadliest infectious disease and continues to kill 1.5 million and sickens 10 million new people every year. It was only last year that COVID-19 overtook TB as the number one killer in infectious diseases, globally. However, in low- and middle-income countries, TB killed more people than COVID-19 in 2020.
The global TB response has been lagging for a long time. 56% of children with TB & 62% of people with MDR-TB have no access to services. There is a significant TB prevention gap – only 4% of UNHLM target for TB preventive treatment in contacts were achieved. TB is the leading cause of death among people living with HIV.
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly interrupted health systems and health service delivery for TB in low- and middle-income countries in 2020. As the Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands mentioned, “much of the progress we’ve made to close the gap on finding “missing” people with TB has been reversed.” Modeling by the Stop TB Partnership suggests that TB mortality will keep increasing as a result of disruptions caused by COVID-19.
It is imperative to rapidly scale-up access to more effective early TB and DR-TB diagnosis, better and shorter treatment regimens, active case finding, TB preventive treatment, community mobilization, and work on human rights and gender issues.
We warn that TB responses are at very high risk of further deteriorating unless the needed resources are urgently made available. The Global Fund rates the current risks to TB program quality as very high.
As the Global Fund Board is considering a very complex, yet critical decision on Disease split and allocation methodology, it is crucial to consider
- the critical role Global Fund plays as the main funder for the TB response and for driving scale-up of finally available, more effective TB treatment and TB diagnosis;
- the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on TB programs;
- the TB death burden across the Global Fund eligible countries;
- the current context of constrained domestic budgets, external funding for TB needs.
The 18% allocation for TB in the current Global Fund disease split is completely inadequate in the context of TB having the highest mortality among the three diseases. We are convinced that it is possible to increase the Global Fund allocation for TB without jeopardizing the progress in the other two diseases, and that addressing the current underfunding of TB programs and resulting program quality risks will actually strengthen the Global Fund investment case for the upcoming replenishment.
We acknowledge that the disease split alone will not fix the financial gap and request the Global Fund to use all possible internal mechanisms, including catalytic funding and portfolio optimization, to substantially increase the resources allocated by Global Fund to TB.
We also note that the burden of responding to the massive need for TB programs should not be left only to the Global Fund. We will continue working with all international and national stakeholders towards ensuring a comprehensive and fully funded TB response.
However, as the main funder for the TB response globally, the Global Fund should set an example and send a clear signal for a meaningful shift.
We urge the Global Fund Board to make the decision guided by the evidence, to increase the resource allocation to the TB response and ask the Global Fund Secretariat for further analysis as needed for finalizing investment allocations across the three diseases.
Name of Organisation (ACRONYM if available), Country (can skip, if an international association)