Defeating tuberculosis requires hard work and determination: The Union

Mark Dybul, Executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has stressed the role of “leadership” to eliminate a disease, with countries pledging to eradicate TB by 2030 as part of the new sustainable development goals.

“Someone has to act for TB and drive the agenda,” he said at the opening plenary of the ongoing 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health here in Cape Town on Friday.
 
The conference, in which 4,000 delegates from 120 counties are taking part, was formally inaugurated on Thursday evening. The meet emphasises the need for “a new agenda” to fight TB after 2015.
 
It was the first such global gathering after world leaders adopted new SDGs at the UN General Assembly in September this year.
 
The target is to reduce TB deaths by 90 percent, cut new cases by 80 percent, and ensure no family is burdened with catastrophic treatment expenses.
 
Jose Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (known as the The Union in short), said at the outset that defeating tuberculosis would take “hard work and determination”.
 
“It will take skill,” he said, calling for a “paradigm shift”.
 
TB has persisted through history, as its roots are closely intertwined with economic and social inequalities.
 
Now global experts are calling for a “mindset change” and rights-based approach to fight the disease and destroy stigma attached to it.
 
Constance Manwa, a TB survivor from Zimbabwe, said at the plenary that speaking to people who shared her experience had made her feel better.
 
In the opinion of Mark Dybul, “politicians have to believe in the dignity of people who have TB. We need to identify those leaders who will push through change”.
 
“TB is fundamentally a disease of poverty - it is a disease of social injustice,” he said.
 
Linda-Gail Bekker, deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, said in her remarks that “we have to think out of the box” to fully eradicate TB.
 
She stressed the need for resources to keep flowing into research for that to happen.