Ending TB deaths among people living with HIV: Time for Action

Ministerial Panel organized by WHO in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership

Wednesday, June 8, 2016, 08:00-09:30, Room CR7, General Assembly, United Nations, New York

(Breakfast will be served at the Vienna Cafe prior to the panel discussion, starting from 07:45)

The event is open to all delegates attending the HLM with a valid UN security grounds pass.

Convener

Eric Goosby, UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis

Panel Speakers

Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, South Africa and Chair of the Board of Stop TB Partnership
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia
Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, Nigeria
Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General for HIV, TB, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO

Interventions from representatives and heads of agencies

USAID; International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Malawi Interfaith AIDS Association; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; the Stop TB Partnership; and the World Health Organization

Objectives of the meeting

The overall aim of the meeting is to catalyse and intensify efforts in the response to end TB deaths among people living with HIV through firm political commitment, strong country ownership and adequate investments. It is also intended to highlight and bring into focus the problem of HIV-associated TB at the HLM as well as to provide a platform to elicit actions that will transform the implementation of policies and strategies.

Background

Tuberculosis continues to pose a significant challenge to the HIV response. In an era of ART scale-up, TB is still the main cause of hospitalization and deaths among people living with HIV. In 2014 a third of all HIV-related deaths were estimated to be due to TB. Evidence from post mortem studies suggests high rates of TB (63%) among HIV infected individuals, nearly half of which were undetected prior to death. Recent developments in diagnostic technology such as Xpert MTB/RIF and LF-LAM urine test, and new diagnostic algorithms hold promise for fast-tracking patients to life-saving treatment and for reducing mortality. Global policies and technical guidelines have been developed but require urgent national adoption, implementation and scale-up.

Bold targets for HIV are included in the Fast Track Strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and implicit in these targets is the urgent need to address HIV-associated TB. A correspondingly bold target of 75% reduction in TB deaths among people living with HIV by 2020, and aligned with the End TB Strategy targets, is set in the Health Sector Strategy on HIV. Achieving these ambitious targets requires unprecedented and intensified efforts to scale up HIV and TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment services for people living with HIV, their families and community members. This cannot be achieved without firm commitment at the highest political level, strong country ownership and adequate investment for implementation.

The 2016 High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM) provides a unique opportunity to highlight the problem of HIV-associated TB at the highest political level, and to craft actions that will end the unacceptably high level of deaths among people living with HIV due to a curable disease. It will also create an opportunity to renew commitment from national governments and other critical stakeholders to catalyse action and eliminate TB deaths among people living with HIV.