Dear Partners, colleagues, and friends,
We are now almost six months away from the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB and have several updates to share. This week marks a critical milestone for the UNHLM, with governments agreeing to the UNHLM Modalities Resolution which sets out the dates, length, agenda and other key details for the meeting.
Thanks to the outstanding efforts of the TB community, including our partners, civil society leaders, and champion countries, the resolution includes many of the TB communities key priorities (click here to download the full resolution). Highlights include:
Date: Member states agreed the UNHLM on TB will take place on 26 September 2018 at UN Headquarters in New York, on the second day of the opening of the UN General Assembly.
Level of Participation: The resolution requests member states to participate at the highest levels, specifically at the Head of State level.
UNHLM Outcomes: Member states agreed that the UNHLM will ‘approve a concise and action orientated political declaration, agreed in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations’.
Meeting Theme: United to End Tuberculosis: An Urgent Global Response to a Global Epidemic
Agenda: The UNHLM will include an opening segment, a plenary segment for general discussions, two multi-stakeholder panels and a closing segment. The panels will focus on a) ‘Accelerating a comprehensive response through access to affordable prevention, diagnosis and treatment and care to end the TB epidemic...’ and 2) ‘Scaling up sufficient and sustainable national and international financing and implementation for service delivery, innovation, and R&D...’
Civil Society Participation: Member states emphasized the participation of civil society throughout the resolution, including agreement to hold a UNHLM Civil Society Hearing in New York, encouraging inclusion of civil society in member state delegations, inclusion of a civil society speaker in the opening segment, and agreement to invite non-ECOSOC accredited organizations to the UNHLM. While the dates of the UN Civil Society Hearing have not yet been agreed, it is expected it will take place in the first half of June. We will keep you updated on all relevant details.
This progress is possible due to the strong efforts and outreach of colleagues, partners and the entire TB community. For any questions or inputs please contact us anytime at unhlm@stoptb.org.
Thank you for your support!
The Stop TB Partnership