First Lady of Nigeria and Global TB Ambassador, Mrs Aisha Buhari has called for more funding to fast track efforts to end Tuberculosis.
Mrs Buhari, who made the call during the UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis at the its headquarters, New York, challenged leaders to increase political commitment and be accountable to their promises of increasing resources and supporting effective and sustainable partnerships to end TB.
The First Lady, who was represented at the meeting by the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari, Dr. Hajo Sani, made reference to the last meeting of African First Ladies alongside the African Union General Assembly in Addis Ababa, where she made it clear that TB should be integrated in the fight against HIV/AIDS as that will harmonize plans and actions relating to the two related killer diseases.
She said; “As a Global TB Champion and Ambassador, I have used my position as the First Lady to promote TB among stakeholders in different sectors, with support from Stop TB Partnership Nigeria and working with wives of state governors.”
She called on governments, United Nations agencies, development partners, academic and research institutions, civil society, media, celebrities, patients and survivors, private sector to close ranks and ensure the implementation of the commitments made at the last meeting.
In his speech, the Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Ghabreyesus confirmed that successes are being recorded in the fight against TB, but called on stakeholders to advance action and accelerate progress made so far.
Dr Ghabreyesus’ speech which was delivered by Deputy Director-General, Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, spoke extensively on the Multisectoral Action Framework (MAF-TB), which aims to support effective accountability of governments and all stakeholders, at global, regional and country levels, in order to accelerate progress to end the tuberculosis epidemic. The Framework, he further said is aligned fully with the End TB Strategy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, stressing that now is the moment for action and the time to deliver.
The meeting was jointly organized by the Russian Federation and World Health Organization and was attended by UN agencies, civil society representatives and funding institutions as well as delegations from Russia, South Africa, Vietnam, Japan, Uganda, Zambia, Chad, Oman and Barbuda and Nigeria.
