The Stop TB Partnership Board calls for a dramatic increase in funding for TB
The call to countries, donors, development agencies and investment partners encourages a step up in action to secure TB funding and fully replenish the Global Fund.
6th February 2019, the Stop TB Partnership 2019 Board meeting, Geneva: The Board of the Stop TB Partnership has issued an urgent call to countries, donors, development agencies and investment partners to “Step up the Fight” and increase funding to at least US$14 billion for the 2020-2022 replenishment cycle of the Global Fund, in order to fulfill promises made at the 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB.
A cost-benefit analysis by the Copenhagen Consensus Center (CCC) presented at the Stop TB Partnership Board meeting, shows that TB is one of the best investments among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the CCC, the benefits that a person treated for TB bestows on a typical national economy in a high TB-burden country works out as US$43 for every US$1 spent. As Bill Gates recently quipped “Investment in health institutions [including the Global Fund] is the best investment I ever made.”
Despite this compelling evidence, a serious gap in TB funding has opened up, jeopardizing the UN SDGs, as well as commitments made at the UNHLM on TB last year. The Stop TB Partnership Board has therefore issued an urgent global call-to-action to ‘Step Up The Fight,’ to close the gap and make sure that the goal to end TB by 2030 is on track.
The main actions requested by the Board are:
- For the full replenishment of the Global Fund and use of all available tools to maximize funds for TB from the Global Fund to meet the ambitious UNHLM targets, which includes full disbursement of country allocations, expansion of catalytic funding, prioritization of portfolio optimization, etc;
- The Board recognizes TB response is facing a serious gap in funding and that in order to meet the bold targets and commitments made in the 2018 UN Political Declaration on TB, the world needs to fulfill the commitment made in the declaration for making available US$13 Billion per annum for implementing TB interventions and an additional US$2 Billion per annum for research and development (R&D). The Board is concerned about the current low levels of financing and huge funding gaps in both TB implementation and R&D and issues a call to step up the action towards joining forces with all TB partners to close the financing gap in the TB response and to ensure a fully funded Global Fund.
- That Heads of Governments of all high TB burden countries increase domestic funding for TB, and that the Stop TB Partnership and its partners engage with strategically important high-burden middle-income countries to double or triple their domestic budgets for TB;
- That the World Bank and other development banks ensure that all instruments available for loans and grants to high TB burden countries are considered during negotiations on credit agreements in order to make funds available for TB, including blended finance mechanisms;
- For the Stop TB Partnership to work with partners to tap the full potential of social health insurance schemes, innovative funding and impact financing for TB;
- Recognition by the global community that funding for TB research and development (R&D) is a shared responsibility. As such, the Board supports the proposal to develop specific targets for R&D into TB for each country, recognizing that different countries might choose to support local or regional research initiatives;
- That the Stop TB Partnership form a “TB Finance Task Team” to work on traditional and innovative options available to increase funding for TB particularly in the context of Universal Health Coverage to identify opportunities and provide strategic guidance to the Board and Secretariat for resource mobilization for the global TB response;
The call to action was based on deliberations made at the 31st Stop TB Partnership Board held at the Global Health Campus in Geneva, Switzerland in January 2019.
Source: Stop TB Partnership