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ACTION Statement for World Tuberculosis Day
A Global Disease Needs a Global Response
March 24, 2014 – For World TB Day, ACTION partners around the world are calling on their leaders to
prioritize and address tuberculosis as an urgent national, regional, and global threat.
From calling on the European Union to address TB as a regional threat, to coordinating an
unprecedented call to action on TB from 160 policy makers from G7 countries, to addressing the spread
of TB across Southern Africa fuelled by mining activities, to working with communities and governments
to ensure vulnerable populations receive the TB diagnosis and treatment they need, it’s clear that
coordinated political will to tackle TB as a global health threat is building.
“No one country can end tuberculosis alone. As an airborne and infectious disease, TB doesn’t respect
national borders and is a truly global threat that requires truly global solutions,” said Aaron Oxley,
Executive Director of RESULTS UK, an ACTION partner.
This year, ACTION is joining the global TB-fighting community to rally around a call to reach the 3 million
people who get sick with TB every year, but do not receive the care they need.
These 3 million people are living with TB but either cannot access health care, can reach health care but
aren’t being diagnosed, or are receiving a TB diagnosis that is not properly recorded by national health
systems. National governments must prioritize and build strong TB programs that ensure TB testing and
treatment can be accessed by all, especially the most vulnerable, but they can’t do this alone.
Civil society around the world must hold their governments accountable to promises on TB, and ensure
we sustain momentum to reach the 3 million people who continue to silently suffer from TB. And
international donors must continue to support and work with the low- and middle-income countries where
TB burdens are highest to ensure they can continue to build equitable and accessible TB programs.
“We’ve made impressive progress in coming together as a global community to tackle TB,” said Alison
Root, ACTION Deputy Director. “But we must ensure this collaboration leads to the political will and
investments needed to finally end TB as a public health threat.”
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About ACTION
ACTION is a global partnership of 10 advocacy organizations in donor and high burden countries working
to influence policy and mobilize resources to fight diseases of poverty and improve equitable access to
health services. ACTION’s priorities are ending the TB epidemic, and ending preventable child deaths.
For more information, or to be connected with our global network of health advocates:
Angela Pereira
Senior Communications Associate
[email protected]
@ACTION_Tweets