Stop TB Partnership

Anna Cataldi

Anna Cataldi, who is from Italy, was appointed as a Stop TB Ambassador in September 2007. Her role is to raise awareness worldwide about the unfair burden of TB on refugees, migrants, people living in poverty and other disadvantaged groups and to speak out for access to TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment as a human right.

Ms Cataldi, who was appointed UN Messenger of Peace by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1998 and served in that role until 2007, has a long and accomplished record as a human rights advocate. The author of Letters from Sarajevo, which chronicles the impact of war on Bosnia's children, she has also traveled in Somalia, Rwanda and Afghanistan, bringing support and encouragement to those caught in dangerous conflicts in those countries. In 1998, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, she initiated a project to create and distribute a passport-sized pamphlet version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for children. In March 2007, she conceived and helped organize a photo exhibit focussing on TB at UN Headquarters that was viewed by more than 100 000 people.

Ms Cataldi describes her awakening to the terrible toll of TB on people worldwide as an epiphany. "Eighteen months before I began serving as a Stop TB Ambassador, tuberculosis meant almost nothing to me. It was obsolete, a disease that belonged to the past. Then while traveling I witnessed first hand the fight so many are still having with this so-called obsolete disease, even people living in deprived urban areas of affluent industrialized countries. I learned, too, that their suffering is unnecessary because today TB is curable at a very modest cost. These discoveries have motivated me to do all I can to raise awareness about this terrible disease," she says.

Activities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Anna Cataldi has been instrumental in advocating TB care in high burden countries of this Region by visiting and meeting public and media personalities. In 2008-09, she visited Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordon and Morocco. Her visits were jointly organized by STB and Stop TB Partnership.

Afghanistan: "Come back soon. The need here is so great, and the world, despite all the promises, is forgetting about us." Dan Kelly, head of the UN Mine Action Centre in Afghanistan and his team, who have been with her throughout her 2004 journey to the war torn country, extended another invitation while seeing her off at the Kabul airport. And she took this both an invitation and an obligation and said "I will return to Afghanistan" and she did return in 2007 & again in 2008. While Anna Cataldi kept her promise, she had another more important objective in visiting, how to save life of hundreds of Afghans dying with a completely preventable and curable disease, Tuberculosis or TB. Anna Cataldi has marvelously contributed to the fight against TB in this country about which she says "I am a foreigner yet where without any logical reason I almost feel more at home than in my native land".

During her visit, she attended a workshop on Gender & TB in Kabul. Afghanistan is one of the very few countries in the world where more than 65% of the TB patients are women. In a country ravaged by war and marginalized by socio-economic conditions, women need more attention and better TB care. Anna Cataldi raised this in her subsequent meetings later with the Ministers of Health HE Dr Amin Fatemi and Dr Faizullah Kaker, officials of Italian mission and Italian International Cooperation. She also paid a visit to ex royal family in Kabul.

Anna Cataldi while visiting the border city of Herat, inaugurated Regional Reference Laboratory, a diagnostic facility to serve as regional hub of diagnosis and training center supported by Italian mission in Afghanistan. While in Herat, she met with Provincial Governor and officials from department of Health.

Keeping Afghanistan always on her priority, Anna cataldi has always spoken convincingly for TB patients in this country through her talks, writings and travel. Her repeated visits and advocacy for TB care has been instrumental in pushing TB up on the health and development agenda. Her support in mobilizing donor and international community is one of the key factors that helped National TB Program and WHO in Afghanistan to establish a national partnership. this partnership, in a limited time, has very effectively emerged as not only a collaborative platform for TB care activities but is also being viewed as support to other health programs like HIV/AIDS & malaria. The Partnership was formally inaugurated in Paris on Oct 2008 on the occasion of IUATLD Conference. Again Anna Cataldi was there to pledge her support to the Health Minister and officials from Afghanistan.

Another significant contribution of her visits to Afghanistan has been consistent support from Italian Cooperation to TB Program. The Italian support has been instrumental in raising awareness, training health care workers and ensuring consistent quality technical assistance to the TB care mechanism in this country.

With the help of Anna Cataldi and photo graphs of Italian photographer Ricardo Venturi, STB has produced a pictorial which has been widely distributed and well received around the world. The pictorial includes a write up from Anna and photos of TB affected men, women, young & old. The booklet excellently presents the human side of TB.

Pakistan: "Pakistan's experience has been one of the most memorable and I made many good friends here". Anna Cataldi wrote to late Dr Hassan Sadiq, the NTP Manager of Pakistan. While visiting Pakistan in April, 2008, Anna held meetings, visited a rural TB center and talked to media and the development community in Islamabad.

While visiting a rural TB care center she met TB patients and female community health workers (known as Lady Health Workers in Pakistan). She was particularly impressed with their role in counseling patients and bringing suspects to the diagnosis centers. Ms. Anna Cataldi met the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Fehmida Mirza. The Speaker herself is a medical doctor and is highly sensitive towards the need of prioritizing of TB care in the country. while talking to Anna. Dr Mirza emphasized the need of identifying local ambassadors at the district, provincial and national levels to ensure greater advocacy for TB. She even herself offered to work for TB in her capacity of coordinator for national parliament.

The highlight of her visit was her talk to media, highly publicized and very well attended by print and electronic media. She spoke extensively on her experiences in other countries and why media needs to highlight TB in Pakistan. Later Anna also met Italian Mission staff and discussed with them the NTP needs of building a national reference laboratory for TB diagnosis. Anna also paid a visit to the Planning Commission, the highest body for planning and development in the country and met the commission member for social sector (including health) Mr. Ejaz Raheem (who later remained the minister for health in the country). The commission requested Anna to put across a message to Global fund for sustained financial support to TB care in Pakistan, a country which shoulders half of the disease burden in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Jordon: Anna Cataldi visited Jordon in 2008. Her visit coincided with a charity event organized by the Royal family and UN. She visited NTP and one of the oldest TB facilities in Jordon, a sanatorium in rural Jordon now tuned into a MDR-TB care center. She met patients, staff and management and was very much impressed with the quality of work by center management and cooperation of NTP. Though Jordon is not a high burden country but has a significant refugee population. While in Amman, Anna held meetings with Deputy Minister for Health and also spoke with media. On the sidelines of this visit, she held meetings with Italian mission and urged their support to TB and MDR care in the country.

Morocco: Anna Cataldi visited Morocco in 2009. Invited by Ministry of Health to speak on the occasion of launching of national partnership to stop TB, Anna paid a visit to Rabat in October. While attending a 2 day national conference on TB care, Anna met with minister for health Ms Yasmin Baddou and developments partners. The conference was attended by over 300 delegates from across the country affirming their support to Stop TB in one of the high burden countries of WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. On the occasion, a national charter on stop TB was read and endorsed by the delegates.

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in Morocco. It is particularly prevalent in the more urbanized and populated areas of the country. The large cities are especially affected. Though Morocco is one of the few countries in Eastern Mediterranean Region with distinction of achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of 70% case detection rate and 85% success rate for treatment.

Anna visit was important in raising the profile of the event. Her status as global ambassador reinforced WHO support to TB care in Morocco.