24 March 2021, Geneva, Switzerland – Twelve new corporate partners from across sectors pledged their firm support to combat tuberculosis (TB), one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, by joining the Ending Workplace TB (EWTB) initiative.
The EWTB initiative is pleased to welcome today Cepheid, Covance, Freeport-McMoRan, IQVIA, Otsuka, PerkinElmer, PRA Health Sciences, Qiagen, Recipharm, Sibanye Stillwater, Société Générale, and VVF Life Sciences SA as the newest wave of corporate commitments.
On this year’s World Tuberculosis Day and in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever that international corporations join efforts to boost the health of the workforce and communities to curb the devastating impact of tuberculosis. TB, a curable and preventable infectious disease, continues to kill, on a global scale, more than 4000 people a day.
“The theme of this year’s World Tuberculosis Day is ‘The Clock Is Ticking,’ so it’s fitting that the business community is recognising the need to act. It is the first time in my career that I see such an engagement of the corporate sector, with many multinational companies signaling the role they can play in regards to the health of their workforce. The Ending Workplace TB initiative is building a global network of companies dedicated to TB care and prevention,” said Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership. “Global TB case detection has fallen by nearly 25% in 2020 due to COVID-19 and is likely to lead to an increase in TB mortality in the coming years if urgent action is not taken. Addressing workplace risk of TB, especially in high burden countries, must be a global priority if progress in TB control is to be restored.”
Ending Workplace TB (EWTB) was launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters in January 2020, at an event featuring private sector companies (including Johnson & Johnson, Fullerton Health, and Royal Philips); global health agencies (the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Stop TB Partnership) and leaders in workplace health programming (including the Confederation of Indian Industry). The initiative encourages responsible businesses to play a defining role in overcoming the disease by leveraging their untapped potential in reaching millions of workers and their communities and drive progress in the highest-burden areas.
The Ending Workplace TB program has outlined four fundamental challenges that hamper the global TB response and are of particular relevance to companies: tackling stigma, supporting workers to access healthcare services, mitigating out-of-pocket costs for TB for workers, and supporting community-level efforts. Centered on these objectives, EWTB works with member companies to identify the interventions that are most relevant given their contexts and capabilities.
In addition to welcoming our new corporate members, three convening partners have also joined to support this effort. These include India Health Fund, GBC Health, and Santé en Entreprise.
Please join us in applauding these commitments to ending workplace TB!
If you are interested in joining EWTB or finding out more about it, contact partners@ewtb.org or at www.ewtb.org.
Twelve new corporate partners join the Ending Workplace TB initiative
Ending Workplace TB initiative, jointly launched in 2020 by the Stop TB Partnership, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Economic Forum, and Johnson & Johnson, was created to bring new corporate partners to the fight against