30 January 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - The Stop TB Partnership and the Confluence for Health Action and Transformation Foundation ("India Health Fund") signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today. This MOU represents a critical milestone for the tuberculosis (TB) community, as it contributes to accelerating the roll-out of new, people-centered TB innovations in the fight against TB in India and other high burden countries, in support of India’s ambitious commitment to end TB by 2025 and the targets committed to by global leaders at the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UN HLM) on TB.
The MOU between the Stop TB Partnership and the India Health Fund will focus on joint advocacy and knowledge sharing to increase access to healthcare for people affected by TB in India and other high burden countries. It will achieve this by modernizing how and where TB care services are delivered, sourcing and supporting start-ups and small-medium enterprises from India that are developing new, people-centered TB innovations, and identifying public and private sector donors and investors to support the Stop TB Partnership’s Accelerator for Impact (a4i) Initiative and the India Health Fund.
"Signing this MOU with the India Health Fund is a very promising step in the right direction. There is an unbelievable amount of game-changing solutions coming from India, and the Stop TB Partnership strongly believes that we need to do whatever we can to get these innovations to the people who need them, not only in India but to the world. We also foresee this unique opportunity as a tangible way to strengthen our engagement with the private sector in India to jointly develop creative solutions in the vast TB space, which is in dire need of novel approaches to solving complex problems," said Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership.
Manoj Kumar, Director of the India Health Fund, noted, "The vision of a TB free India by 2025 and world by 2030, is as promising as it is challenging. To achieve this, we simply cannot rely on traditional approaches only. We need to think bolder, take risks and invest in disruptive innovations that can accelerate TB elimination in a non-linear manner. Any solutions that are validated and scaled up in India have the potential to catalyze elimination of the disease across the world. We at the India Health Fund are delighted to formalize our collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership and join hands in this endeavor to leverage the power of innovations in ending TB."
The India Health Fund is a collaborative initiative that is seeded by The Tata Trusts and seeks to leverage the power of collective impact to end TB in India by 2025.
The a4i initiative supports entrepreneurs who are developing cutting edge technologies to modernize TB care.
The MOU was signed during the Stop TB Partnership’s 31st Board Meeting, which is taking place from 29-30 January 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland.