Stop TB and the Global Fund commit to support countries and TB communities

23 May 2014 - Geneva, Switzerland - The Stop TB Partnership and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria renewed their joint commitment to countries and TB communities this week through the recently signed agreement on technical assistance between WHO and the Global Fund this week.

The Stop TB Partnership which is hosted by WHO and whose collaboration was therefore included under WHO’s agreement with the Global Fund, focuses mainly on engaging TB communities early in the Global Fund’s grant process. The Partnership’s assistance aims at helping countries to submit a much more robust application which will in turn increase their chances of receiving funding and ensuring that people suffering from TB are at the core of the work.

Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership said, "It is essential that we engage and empower TB communities, people affected by TB and HIV, local NGOs, marginalized and vulnerable groups and hard to reach populations to be part of the national programmes and the Global Fund dialogue and processes. In TB, we now need to translate our statements into real action and we in the Stop TB Partnership together with our partners from the Global Fund are ready for this."

The Stop TB Partnership will fund a range of technical assistance activities that ensure countries and TB communities meaningfully collaborate and engage throughout pre-technical review panel stages of the grant process under the Global Fund’s new funding model.

A key implementing partner of the agreement will be the Global Coalition of TB Activists. GCTA is a new coalition that brings national, regional and sub-regional partners focused on TB communities under one umbrella to amplify the voice of TB communities.