On the 25th of September 2020, one day before the 2nd anniversary of the 2018 United Nations High Level Meeting on TB (UNHLM), the Francophone TB Caucus announced an official civil society partnership with Dynamique de la réponse d'Afrique Francophone sur la Tuberculose (DRAF TB). Also present for the announcement were representatives from TB survivors network Association de Soutien aux Anciens Patients TB, Stop TB Partnership and the Global TB Caucus secretariat.
The alliance will support the work of parliamentarians in the fight against TB, and in particular strengthen the push for accountability in the follow up of the UNHLM commitments of 12 countries in the Francophone region: Guinea, Chad, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Benin and Cameroon. It will also bolster parliamentary commitment to implement the joint work plan for the Challenge Facility for Civil Society project.
As we see engagement between sectors continue to evolve, we see the response to TB also evolve in step. It is a hopeful sign of an increasingly unified effort across sectors to a shared commitment to end TB through tangible action.