10 October 2017 - Guadalajara, Mexico - For the second consecutive year, the Stop TB Partnership handed out awards for organizations exceeding in TB excellence during a TB Awards Gala, which took place in Guadalajara on the sidelines of the Union World Conference on Lung Health.
A total of 11 prizes in six different categories were awarded by different Stop TB Partnership Secretariat teams representing its programmatic work to include the Civil Society Movement, the Global Drug Facility (GDF), TB REACH, the Paradigm Shift in TB, World TB Day and Partners Engagement. The gala dinner event which had over 130 partners present including people affected by TB, communities and civil society, and representatives from TB programmes, was officiated in the presence of the Guadalajara city authorities.
The Country & Community Support for Impact (CCS4i) Team awarded prizes for effective community monitoring for accountability to the Civil Society Movement Against Tuberculosis Sierra Leone and the Stop TB Partnership Tajikistan.
Accepting the award on behalf of Stop TB Partnership Tajikistan, Safar Naimov said "We desperately need a change in mindset. There is a heavy burden for healthcare providers in TB because they often experience difficulties and challenges in their jobs. People affected by TB often find it hard to talk about their pain and suffering. We accept this award on behalf of all those suffering from TB."
"This award is dedicated to the TB community at home, the team and our NTP Manager. It is really great for the NTP Manager to be able to say that there is a way to monitor TB treatment. We hope other countries follow our example. Stigma is a huge barrier for people to access care. During the monitoring, they also discovered that healthcare workers discriminate against patients - this is gradually changing due to our work," said Abdulai Abubakarr Sesaya, representing the Civil Society Movement against Tuberculosis Sierra Leone.
Friends for International TB Relief (FIT) from Vietnam were awarded the 2017 TB REACH Initiative’s Prize for delivering innovative, community-based solutions which significantly improved the detection, linkage to treatment and follow-up TB care. The organization was also recognized for pushing the implementation of new drugs and new technologies, and promoting and implementing TB care above the standards in global guidelines.
For exceptional effort in ensuring a Paradigm Shift in TB, the Stop TB Partnership Executive Director’s Office awarded the Paradigm Shift prize to the National Tuberculosis Programme of India. Accepting the award, India’s Revised National TB Control Program Manager Dr Sunil Khaparde said, "India has a plan to recognize the bold vision. The Prime Minister of India aims to eliminate TB by 2025, and not 2030. We are very committed and a number of very important projects are going on in India. We are also working to establish universal access to TB diagnostics."
Project Hope Kazakhstan was awarded the World TB Day 2017 Prize for the organization of a series of events, including hosting an international media training tour for issues in TB among labor migrants involving over 21 journalists, to commemorate World TB Day this year
The Global Drug Facility team awarded three countries for excellence in TB procurement and supply chain. Sri Lanka was recognized as a leader in scaling up new tools, Zimbabwe was awarded for excellent work in accurately quantifying the procurement orders and Turkmenistan received the award for leading efforts to efficiently plan orders.
Finally, a Partners Engagement Prize was given to three partner organizations - the Moldovan Center for Health Policies and Studies, Development AID from People to People (DAPP) from Zimbabwe and Socios and Salud from Peru which were selected through a random draw, for participating in the 2017 Partners Survey.
"TB remains a major cause of death in the world. We have the power to end TB, but to reach a turning point we need the energy and determination of every partner, every woman and man who work daily and tirelessly to find innovative, new, and bold solutions to fight this horrible disease. With the now established TB Awards Gala, the Stop TB Partnership wants to put in the spotlight all our partners that are showing amazing work and results and are the true champions of excellence in their domain of work, their community and country," said Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of Stop TB Partnership.
The first Stop TB Partnership TB Awards Gala was organized ahead of the 2016 Union World Conference on Lung Health which took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom.