“The Road from TB to UHC towards reaching the SDGs by 2030: Financing to Deliver Commitments” - Stop TB Partnership

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and a privilege for me to welcome you to the Palais des Nations, especially as this is the first time that the Stop TB Partnership is holding its Executive Board in Geneva.

In particular, I wish to convey my thanks to Dr. Lucica Ditiu [Executive Director of Stop TB Partnership] and the Secretariat of the Stop TB Partnership for inviting me to join you at the opening of this session on financing health care towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

It is indeed very fitting that you are meeting here in International Geneva – the operational heart of the multilateral system.

Whenever I talk about the benefits of the multilateral system to the broader public, I make the point that much of our work actually goes unseen. Unbeknownst to many, everyone on this planet is impacted by decisions taken here in Geneva, in any 24-hour period. This is true in fields such as human rights, trade, labour, technology, but also health.

The actors of the health cluster in Geneva have made significant contributions to the health of people across the world. Globally, the risk of dying from any one of the four main NCDs decreased by 4% between 2000 and 2016. TB incidence declined 19% during the same period. Child mortality rates have declined by 58% since 1990.

Despite these successes, our work cannot stop here.

We have seen that after unprecedented global gains in malaria control, progress has stalled, and is at risk of backtracking.

Progress in TB, although impressive, is not fast enough to close existing gaps. TB incidence is falling at about 2% per year. This needs to accelerate to a 4 to 5% annual decline in order to reach our targets.

Nevertheless, we have a chance to turn the tide if we build our efforts cleverly around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our common roadmap to a better world.

Through the Sustainable Development Goals, world leaders have recognized that investing in health is not an option nor a luxury.
Rather, it is an essential element of human and economic development.

Whether in fighting poverty (SDG 1), increased food security (SDG 2), clean water supplies (SDG 6) or making cities safe (SDG 11) – making progress on Goal 3 on health impacts all the other goals.

However, reaching the 2030 Agenda, lessening the burden of infectious diseases and achieving universal health coverage, as well as ensuring the promotion of well-being for all, at all ages – requires early, widespread action at every level.

It requires the efforts of everyone – national governments, international organizations, civil society, but also the private sector, academia and the media.

And the fight against tuberculosis, our topic for the day, and an infectious disease which in 2017 alone was responsible for the deaths of 1.6 million people, is crucial to achieving the SDG on health.

Estimates show that a third of the world’s population is infected with the bacteria that causes TB.

People with TB are often the most vulnerable members of society. Many of them get treatment, but around 4 million others are left behind or forgotten, falling through the cracks of our health systems worldwide.

Which is why universal health coverage is so badly needed to reach them and others at risk.

I am happy that world leaders have begun to rally around the TB cause. The Board of the Stop TB Partnership played a central role in securing the first ever UN High-Level Meeting on TB in September 2018, and in the resulting Political Declaration endorsed by UN Heads of State and Government.

Last year’s declaration commits governments to diagnose and successfully treat 40 million people with TB by 2022 and to provide preventive treatment to an additional 30 million people.

It also commits governments to make progress on these targets through financing – with an overall commitment of USD 13 billion per year for implementation and USD 2 billion per year for research and development.

Now that the world has these ambitious targets, the UN system has a clear role to play in ensuring every agency working at global and country level supports governments in these efforts.

Tuberculosis is an issue that cuts across many different sectors and social lines, and therefore requires a whole of society response beyond the health sector alone.

Governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector have to work together to amplify each other’s expertise in the fight against tuberculosis.

Together, we have also to double our efforts to create policies that provide education, food, and social support for vulnerable TB populations.

But most of all, we must all work together to fight against the stigma and discrimination that people with TB face each and every single day. Because true change comes from acceptance and mutual understanding.

UN Geneva too, remains committed to building strong partnerships and to playing its role in the fight against TB.

Thank you for the invitation to be here today and I wish you a successful meeting.