An informal advocacy alliance that shares a commitment to raising awareness of tuberculosis and to increasing the political will to control the disease through the WHO Europe Region and worldwide.
TB EUROPE COALITION NEWSFLASH
02/09/2014
The TBEC newsletter brings you news items, information about upcoming events and stories from the region every month. We hope that you will find this newsletter interesting, and we hope that it will inspire you to share stories from your own work.
To become a member of the TB Europe Coalition or to share your work, please email Fanny Voitzwinkler at fvoitzwinkler@ghadvocates.org.
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Global Fund makes suggestions on where concept notes can be strengthened
The Global Fund's Technical Review Panel has recently released several recommendations on areas where concept notes can be strengthened in order to build the best possible case for funding.
Several areas of intervention were identified as key when developing your concept note. The first recommendation was a need to focus on key populations, particularly important when considering that resources are scarce. The second recommendation highlighted the need to make sure that programmes are sustainable. This is key in the Eastern European and Central Asian region where country income levels means Global Fund funding is not guaranteed after 2017. Other areas of attention included: getting the programme split right, improving the quality of concept notes and prioritising for greatest impact.
The above general recommendations were accompanied by technical recommendations. Technical recommendations included the need for countries to prioritise case detection and the immediate treatment of all newly identified cases while expanding the capacity for programmatic management of drug resistant TB. The Global Fund also urged the prioritisation of joint TB and HIV concept notes, health systems strengthening and in addressing human rights and gender issues.
For a more detailed breakdown of the recommendations please click here.
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Tajikistan launches Stop TB Partnership
TBEC was pleased and excited to hear that members of the coalition and other TB stakeholders in Tajikistan launched a national Stop TB Partnership last month. The partnership was launched in response to the seriousness of the TB problem in Tajikistan. The situation requires joint effort to meet the needs of TB patients, relatives and to strengthen national policies and programmes to combat the disease.
The conference to launch the partnership brought together 76 people from across all of Tajikistan’s regions. Participants included: TB patients, those who had recovered from TB, relatives, government representatives, and international, public and private organisations and the media. By bringing together such a diverse group it is hoped that TB receives the attention it deserves and that policies make a difference to those who are most in need.
As well as the formation of the Partnership as a whole the conference was a valuable opportunity to discuss the goals and priorities of the Coalition. These are:
- Slowing the spread of TB, the burden of TB and TB-HIV, and reducing the number of new cases of TB and M/XDR-TB in Tajikistan;
- Developing a strategic plan for the Coalition from 2015-2017 and workplan for the current year;
- Reaching an agreement on the opening of representative offices of the Coalition in the regions of Tajikistan and a ‘helpline’ to respond rapidly to requests from members of the Coalition and of persons affected by TB;
- Forming a secretariat which includes 6 TB activists.
You can read the full press release by following this link.
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