11 December 2023, Geneva, Switzerland - On International Human Rights Day, the Stop TB Partnership reaffirms the urgent need for a human-rights-based approach to end tuberculosis (TB), the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
A human-rights-based approach to TB recognizes and upholds the fundamental rights of all people affected by the disease, including the right to health, non-discrimination, and participation in decision-making. The approach is founded on the dignity and autonomy of people affected by TB and the critical role they must play in all aspects of the disease response. We believe this approach is essential to ensure that everyone has access to quality TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care, regardless of their background or circumstances.
Despite being a preventable and treatable disease, TB claims the lives of 1.3 million people a year, disproportionately affecting those most vulnerable, including people living in poverty and marginalized communities.
Stop TB Partnership works with partners around the world to implement a human-rights-based approach. Through the Challenge Facility for Civil Society and during the last 3 years, we have invested USD18 million in Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) initiatives to identify and overcome barriers to TB care and support services, stigma, and human rights violations.
To further enhance a rights-based approach to TB, Stop TB Partnership together with KELIN from Kenya and partners developed the Legal Environment and Human Rights Scorecard, which was launched on the margins of the UNION World Conference on Lung Health 2023 in Paris.
The Scorecard aims to enhance visibility and multisectoral accountability regarding legal, policy and human rights barriers experienced by people affected by TB. The 8 themes of the scorecard are:
- Availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (AAAQ)
- Non-discrimination and equal treatment
- Health-related freedoms
- Gender perspective
- TB Key and vulnerable populations
- Participation
- Remedies and accountability
- Social protection
The key contributors to the scorecard were The Global Fund and L’Initiative-Expertise France while the human rights investments were funded by the USAID.
The Scorecard is, therefore, instrumental in informing evidence-based advocacy efforts, to support people to access the TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support that they are entitled to and can support countries to reach their targets and commitments to end TB.
With affected communities at the helm, people affected by TB assume leadership positions to generate the evidence required to advocate for the changes required for an enabling legal and policy environment in TB.
"On this World Human Rights Day, KELIN is proud to celebrate its role in shaping a pivotal instrument for the advancement of both tuberculosis and human rights initiatives globally. We call upon communities to embrace and employ this scorecard, not only as a means to hold governments accountable but also as a vital tool to generate compelling evidence for advocating a TB response that upholds the rights of TB champions and communities at large."
Allan Maleche, Executive Director KELIN
“The Legal Environment and Human Rights Scorecard is a unique and essential tool that will allow countries to move from the rhetoric of human rights in TB to the realization of people’s rights in the TB response”
Brian Citro, Human Rights Lawyer and Professor of Law.