Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Americas TB Caucus held several meetings online, using their advocacy experience to support the response to COVID-19, whilst also ensuring that TB does not continue neglected due to the current health and economic crisis.
These discussions are even more relevant in September, when the United Nations Member States usually meet to discuss issues of greatest global relevance. Only two years ago, the same Member States agreed political commitments at the first ever UN High Level Meeting on TB.
To mark this date, the members of the Americas TB Caucus organised a virtual meeting on
September 24 to bring visibility to this date and the important commitments made. It was their fifth regional meeting and had the participation of invitees from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund).
Discussions also revolve around new partners initiatives to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on HIV, TB and Malaria programs in Latin America` and the Caribbean, such as the COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) introduced by the Global Fund. With an additional US $5 billion for the next 12 months it could ensure the over 100 countries where it operates can effectively adapt critical HIV, TB and malaria programs.
In these challenging times, the Americas TB Caucus commits to continue facilitating the collaboration of all stakeholders in the TB epidemic, and call for a united effort to establish comprehensive accountability mechanisms in order to preserve the gains we have already made, and to secure our gains for the future.
We are all stakeholders in this fight - political leaders, government actors, CSOs, media organisations, international donors, and citizens – and it will take our collective effort to ensure no one is left behind.