NGOs call for funds to eliminate TB

NGOs call for funds to eliminate TB

1. At the India Showcase Event– a preparatory meeting before the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment (2020-2022), NGOs working towards eliminating tuberculosis have appealed the Indian government to ensure adequate funding and effective implementation of the National Strategic Plan to End TB (2017-2025).
2. NGOs and other stakeholders have further committed to support the government to a) create person-centred, rights-based and gender-sensitive response to TB, b) facilitate last-mile support to TB patients through partnerships with service providers and c) provide real-time data on TB cases for an early warning.
3. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or Global Fund/ GFATM), is an international financing organization that mobilizes and invests funds in multi-year cycles known as Replenishments, to support national programs aiming at controlling the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
4. India has been associated with GFATM since 2002 both recipient and donor.
5. According to WHO 2018 Global TB Report, India has the highest burden of TB and multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) -an infectious airborne bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
6. The government of India has taken several initiatives to control TB in India:
7. Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) which focuses on case-detection and TB treatment through Directly Observed Treatment-Short Course (DOTS) strategy
8. National Strategic Plan (NSP), 2017-2025 -a framework to provide guidance for the activities of various stakeholders to reduce the burden of TB mortality and morbidity, and work towards the elimination of TB in India by 2025- 5 years ahead of the Sustainable Development Targets (SDG 3.3) which calls to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, among others, by 2030.