Strengthening the capacity and capability of civil society to drive the TB response in Europe

ended

TB Europe Coalition (TBEC) is the only regional civil society networking, working exclusively on TB in the WHO Europe region and, with 220 members in 35 WHO Europe countries, is uniquely positioned to increase the political will amongst international and regional decision-makers and strengthen necessary capabilities amongst its members to end the TB epidemic across the region. Despite being preventable and curable, tuberculosis (TB) is the biggest infectious disease killer in the world, with the WHO Europe region being home of 18 high-priorities countries, including the numerous EU Member States. Although global leaders have committed to ending the epidemic by 2030, including reiterating their commitment at the UN High-Level Meeting on TB, the current slow rate of progress means that this will not be achieved for another 100 years at least. It is essential that civil society pushes national governments to ensure that the political commitments expressed at international and regional fora result in necessary and visible changes at the country level. TBEC has identified health system financing, quality people-centred care and TB R&D and access to existing tools as the key thematic priorities in the region. TBEC has identified four key objectives for 2020 work plan: 1) well functioning and accountable TBEC governance mechanisms; 2) comprehensive communication and outreach activities, aimed at greater membership participation and collaboration; 3) strong partnerships with key decision makers and relevant civil society networks, working in TBEC priority areas; 4) capacity building activities via exchange visits, country workshops, mentoring programme and webinars. TBEC's objectives are directly relevant to the four 3rd Health Programme Objectives, DG SANTE and CHAFEA. The foreseen activities will further increase the EU's existing public health knowledge on TB, advance coordinated efforts to fight DR-TB and TB-HIV co-infection, reducing the financial burden.