SADC Secretariat, World Bank and the New Partnership for Africa's Development(NEPAD) Agency held a Consultative meeting in Swaziland , on 20th March.
The overall objective of the meeting was to consult on Southern Africa Tuberculosis and Health Systems Support Project.
SADC Secretariat, as SADC region is the epicenter for TB in Sub Saharan Africa; took this opportunity to update on their TB project; Identify and agree on areas of collaboration; Outline the technical and policy support needed from SADC Secretariat and Explore other potential areas of collaboration.
The participants also consulted and endorsed on the Commemoration taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 24th March. As a consequence, SADC Secretariat joined the Global Community to Commemorate the World TB Day being celebrated on 24 March, under the Global theme: “Unite to End TB: Leave no one behind”.
SADC Region and the Secretariat reaffirmed and subscribed to the Sustainable Development agenda that embraces the principle of ensuring no one is left behind in an effort to transform the world and improve people’s lives for the better life. By addressing the health needs of the disadvantaged, the marginalized, those out of reach of the health system will mean improving access Medicines and health services for everyone. This is essential in order to reach the target of ending TB by 2030 as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy.
WHO special focus in 2017 is on uniting efforts to "Leave No One Behind", including actions to address stigmatization, discrimination, marginalization and overcome barriers to access care.
World TB Day provides the platform for affected persons and communities, civil society organizations, health-care providers, policy makers, development partners and others to advocate, discuss and plan further collaboration to fulfil the promise of reaching all people with quality TB prevention and care services, as well as enabling TB prevention through multisectoral development efforts.
