Over 450 national representatives from across the health sector, partners and civil society came together in Dhaka, Bangladesh at a special event to share the results of the 8th Joint Monitoring Mission on TB led by national and international experts. The event was opened by the Honourable Minister of Planning Mr M.A. Mannan, various Ministers of Parliament, high-ranking officials of the army, Secretaries of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Director-General for Health Services.
The Honourable Minister of Planning Mr M.A. Mannan Bangladesh renewed the country’s commitments to end TB made at the UN High Level Meeting on TB stating “Bangladesh is committed to ending TB and ensuring universal access to care for all people with TB. By 2022, we pledge to reach 1.5 million people with quality TB care and nearly 1 million people with TB preventive treatment by 2022. This will be a key contributor to the global and regional fight to end TB. Bangladesh will lead the way to end TB.”
A new campaign to accelerate action from national to subnational level and across all stakeholders was launched called “Race to End TB”. The ceremony for the launch of the campaign included the symbolic passing of the baton – the national flower: White Lilly- from global level to regional level and then to the Honorable Planning Minister who passed the charge to the subnational levels and partners.
I firmly believe that tuberculosis is preventable and treatable. It needs commitment, determination and solidarity…let’s make a pledge to work together towards that end
- Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme, delivered the keynote address urging the country to scale up the End TB response, she said, “We are proud that Bangladesh is joining the race against TB. Ending TB in Bangladesh one of the top high burden countries, will have significant impact on the global fight against this top infectious killer. WHO is committed to supporting the country along with partners and civil society to ensure access to TB care and prevention for all. The recommendations from the Joint Monitoring Mission can help put the country on track to reaching our goal of ending TB together.”
The joint monitoring mission, held over 1-10 September, included document reviews, discussions with the National TB Programme and its partners, field visits and internal consultations and reviews. The mission ended with 10 key recommendations overall including delivering on Bangladesh's commitments on multisectoral accountability, including civil society, affected communities, professional associations and actors beyond the health sector.
The lead of the joint monitoring mission, Dr Jeremiah Chakaya Muhwa, Technical Expert at the Kenyan National TB Programme and President of the International Union Against Lung and Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases added, “Overall, Bangladesh is making great progress. It is narrowing the proportion of missing people with TB, maintaining a consistently high TB treatment success rate and expanding diagnostic services to reach the periphery. The National TB Programme needs to now focus on engaging all stakeholders including medical colleges in a more structured way, as well as the private sector which is the first point of care for the majority of the populace.”.
The WHO Representative, Dr Bardan Jung Rana, congratulated the national TB programme and leadership from the government for successfully conducting the joint monitoring mission. “We would like to appreciate the strong support from the Ministry, Global Fund, USAID, national and internal experts and key stakeholders. We are thankful that WHO has had an opportunity to contribute and support the review process. We will continue to support policy and strategy development and capacity building,” he concluded.
A “Voice of Youth” event was held in advance of the high level meeting in Mugda Medical College, Dhaka, with over 200 young people participating. The event was opened by Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme and Dr Shamiul Islam, Line Director, Bangladesh National TB Programme along with Members of Parliament and partners including the Global Fund and USAID. The global Youth Declaration to End TB was adopted by the youth at the event, and commitments were made to create a national youth movement to end TB in line with WHO’s 1+1 Initiative.
A visit to Cox Bazaar was organized as part of the mission to review the situation of TB in refugees along with the Line Director and with WHO regional and country office colleagues.
