The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) is one of the main partners of the Americas TB Caucus. Since the launch of the regional Caucus, PAHO has been engaged and has committed to politically supporting the work of the Global TB Caucus in the Americas Region. In this sense, both organizations collaborate and advocate for a stronger health agenda in the region.
In 2014, PAHO started an initiative of gathering Health Committees from the Parliaments of the Americas with the aim to create a space of knowledge, exchange and analysis on health. These meetings, always hosted by Health Committees in different countries of the region, raised TB as a public health emergency for the first time in 2016, and every year since then provided a space for parliamentarians to promote the work of the Global TB Caucus and recruit members of health committees from the countries in the region.
This year, this annual meeting had a structure of a workshop on health and legislation. There was a panel around TB where parliamentarians, the regional TB advisor from PAHO and civil servants exchanged best practices and proposed strategies for impact in health and universal health coverage.
Hon Claudio Marte, presented his work with the PARLACEN concerning water and air quality and as a member of the Global TB Caucus, used the opportunity to raise the TB issue when speaking about air quality and the need for proper housing for people living with TB.
One of the panels was focused on TB and more specifically the response to the commitments of the UNHLM on TB. It was composed by Hon Rina Araujo, member of the GTBC, Dr Rafael Lopez, TB Regional Advisor from PAHO and Dr Xioleth Rodriguez, from the Ministry of Health of Honduras. Hon Rina Araujo presented the latest data on TB from the recently launched TB Report, from WHO, and introduced participants on the work of the Global TB Caucus. She presented global, regional and national highlights of the impact of the actions parliamentarians from the Caucus have been taking at all different levels.
This panel raised a lot of interest from participants and was followed by a very proactive Q&A session that featured the commitment of several MPs in the room to join the Global TB Caucus and strengthen the TB response in the region. We are very pleased to welcome new members in the Global TB Caucus, Hon Cristina Luna from Cuba, Hon Victor Castillo from Panama and Hon Regalado, from Guatemala and many MPs from Honduras.