Political advocacy

A virtual meeting of all Member States co-hosted by India, Indonesia, and Nepal, was held on 26 October 2021, leading to a commitment for a renewed response to ending TB during the COVID-19 era. The participants committed to following actions for accelerating efforts towards ending TB:

• Operationalize an empowered country initiative
• Multisectoral collaboration under a documented accountability framework
• Reaching out to people affected by TB with high-quality and equity-based preventive, diagnostic and treatment services that are people centred
• Mobilize commensurate resources and
• Mainstream social protection and address undernutrition

The Regional Strategic Plan towards ending TB in the South-East Asia Region was also endorsed by Member States during the meeting. The Plan calls for investments of upto US$ 3 billion annually for priority interventions that will help accelerate efforts towards ending TB.

Additionally, Member States in the Region have made some exemplary efforts to boost political commitment in respective countries.

• The Presidential Decree on TB in Indonesia provides guidance for an all-of-government response to fighting TB, empowering a decentralized governance mechanism to support the TB response.
• India’s “Jan Angolan”, or people’s movement against TB, aims to mobilize a whole-of-society response to TB, with the goal of achieving a TB-Mukta Bharat.
• In Timor-Leste, the Prime Minister himself has led the pledge along with key partners to end TB in the country
• Nepal has recently launched TB-free initiative with oversight from the Health Minister.