14 September, Geneva, Switzerland - With less than 8 days left until the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UN HLM) on Tuberculosis (TB) in New York City, the Stop TB Partnership is announcing several high-level events ahead of the UNHLM on TB meeting on 22 September.
The second UN High-Level Meeting on TB will be a pivotal moment in the fight to end TB and in meeting the 2030 deadline to end this deadly infectious disease. On Friday, 22 September Heads of State and Governments will gather for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to take stock of progress made since the last high-level meeting on TB that was held in 2018.
During the meeting, leaders will address the current global TB situation, especially since the devastating COVID-19 setbacks. Stop TB hopes that leaders will fully endorse the TB Political Declaration that covers the most urgent needs such as the critical lack of funding, resources, and political commitment at the international and national levels to get the necessary political will and support, needed to ensure that TB efforts are firmly back on track.
“We’re in the last stretch of the preparations for the UN HLM on TB and it is full steam ahead on all fronts. For more than a year, we (the TB community at large) organized ourselves, prepared Key Asks, and worked in capitals with civil society, TB survivors, parliamentarians, and governments. We visited more than 50 New York City-based UN missions, wrote letters, organized campaigns, calls, webinars, and meetings and raised our ambitions and hopes for this UN High Level-Meeting. Now the big week has arrived, and it is time to go to New York,” said Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership. “We are happy to be able to support more than 60 representatives from various TB Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and partners as well as National TB Programmes (NTPs) to be part of the many exciting outreach efforts in New York during the high-level week from 18-22nd September. We will be in New York, so let’s make the best use of our time and presence there,” added Dr Ditiu.
On the sidelines of the 78th UNGA high-level week leading up to the meeting on TB on 22 September, the Stop TB partnership and our partners will engage and organize several key high-level events.
PLEASE NOTE that most events will also be streamed live on the Stop TB social media channels.
A full list of key events is below and much more is included on our website under Key Events | Stop TB Partnership.
19 September
On the 19th of September between 8:30 to 10 am ET, Stop TB will launch the “Coalition of Leaders to End TB” advocacy initiative. The event brings together Heads of States, Heads of Delegations from 10 countries together with heads of multilateral and UN organizations to ensure high-level leadership towards ending TB. The event is by invitation only but will be streamed live on the Stop TB Facebook page and Stop TB Partnership Youtube channels.
The TB Innovation Summit (TBIS) 3.0 will take place on Tuesday, 19 September, between 1:00 and 7:00 pm in New York City. Co-hosted by the Stop TB Partnership, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, Korea International Cooperation Agency's Global Disease Eradication Fund, and the Stop TB Partnership's Private Sector Constituency, the Summit will be a unique gathering as it will take inspiration from the tech world (South by Southwest, TechCrunch Disrupt, etc.) and will feature a mixed-method approach to go beyond the usual talking points. TBIS 3.0 will:
- Celebrate current and future TB innovations and the advances made by the TB community-at-large
- Highlight the need for new and additional funding/ investment for current and future TB innovations
- Bring the best minds together to accelerate the roll-out of current and future TB innovations
- Unite and strengthen the growing and thriving TB innovation ecosystem.
Additional information about the Summit can be found here. Please note TBIS 3.0 has reached maximum capacity but will be live streamed. Details to join virtually be posted on the TBIS 3.0 website in the coming days.
20 September
On the 20th of September, the Stop TB Partnership will present the Kochon award as well as the selected grantees for the Challenge Facility for Civil Society.
This year’s Kochon winners are representing the healthcare workers from Ukraine, selected by the independent panel for their efforts, resilience and bravery in providing TB services to people of Ukraine during the war. The event will also prominently feature the announcement of the Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS) Awards Round 12 Grantees. The registration for the event has reached maximum capacity, but please do not hesitate to join us online on the Stop TB Facebook page and Stop TB Partnership Youtube channels where the event will be streamed live.
Prior to the Kochon prize ceremony between 6:00 to 8:00 pm ET, the Affected Communities and Civil Society Coordination hub which is organized by the Global Fund Advocacy Network (GFAN) will bring together representatives from Civil Society Communities (CSO’s), TB affected people, their friends, families, colleagues and other TB champions will gather in New York’s Battery Park for a fun-filled community picnic to raise awareness and create a buzz on the airborne pandemic of tuberculosis. Please come join us, click here for more information about the event.
21 September
On the 21st of September, the Government of Indonesia, Stop TB Partnership Indonesia and Stop TB Partnership are organizing a high-level event from 1:00 to 3:00 pm ET entitled: “Investing Right, Investing Now to End TB.” This event is by invitation only. The live-streaming details will be shared soon.
In the evening, between 6:00 to 8:30 pm ET, the Stop TB Partnership, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the CDC Foundation are co-sponsoring the event: “Preventing TB to End TB” that aims to highlight the critical need for innovations and scaling-up of existing evidence-based prevention activities including TB preventive treatment (TPT), to achieve the goal of ending TB. Esteemed panelists and high-level speakers will be joining UN Member States from high and low-TB-incidence countries, the U.S. Government, Civil Society, and Multilateral Organizations. The event is by invitation only and already reached maximum capacity but can be followed online on Stop TB Partnership's Facebook and YouTube channels.
MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: SETTING THE SCENE BEFORE UN HLM ON TB
As a precursor of the UN HLM on TB that is slated for 22nd September, the media, civil society and communities and partners will be invited to attend a breakfast briefing held inside the UN Secretariat. During the event, several Ministers of Health, TB survivors, parliamentarians, high-level representatives from main donors countries and First Ladies will join the briefing which will be facilitated by a BBC London news anchor. To the members of the press who are unable to attend the briefing in person, the event will be streamed live on Stop TB’s social media channels listed below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StopTBPartnership/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StopTB
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stoptbpartnership1037
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stop-tb-partnership/
TIMES SQUARE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN AND NYC TRANSPORT OUTREACH CAMPAIGNS
In addition to the many communications and advocacy events during the high-level week, Stop TB has, for the second year in a row, launched a visibility campaign right at the heart of New York City, at the iconic Times Square. For the next three months, a video billboard at Times Square will highlight essential facts about TB, the TB response, challenges, and opportunities faced.
For those that will be in New York City or know someone there, you can go see the billboard in person at Times Square, 1500 Broadway, West 43rd Street. Take a ‘selfie’ with the billboard in the background and share the picture or a short video on social media tagging @StopTB. You can watch our Times Square advertisement here.
BREAKING NEWS: Stop TB has teamed up with the New York City bus company for a general population health awareness campaign – 75 buses running through Manhattan will feature TB-related messages that we hope will bring awareness but also help people in NY at that time understand more about the airborne nature of this disease, but also the fact that is both preventable and curable.