– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the 蘑菇视频 General Assembly

26 September 2018

 

Closing of the High-Level Meeting on the Fight Against Tuberculosis

Heads of State and Government,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you, again, for participating in the first ever 蘑菇视频 high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis.

We began this morning with two goals: one, an ambitious, long-term, and world-changing goal – to end TB; and the second, which is more immediate, less dramatic but nonetheless essential goal – to agree on a political declaration that would take us to the next step in the fight against tuberculosis.

I am deeply pleased to say that our immediate goal has been achieved and the Political Declaration has been approved.

I thank all of you for this.

Yet, while we should celebrate this success, we must be mindful of the fact that, until we deliver on our promises, this remains just another 蘑菇视频 declaration.

Now we need to get to work.

We have heard from participants today-and there were many important takeaways. These include concrete recommendations on how to scale-up universal access to TB care and prevention; approaches to leaving no one behind; the critical need to collaborate on multidrug-resistant TB; and the need for more, and more targeted, financing for TB.

We also learnt about actions being taken by countries:

  • China, South Africa and Surinam, and others, are implementing national strategic plans to close the gaps in diagnosis and treatment; and
  • India has tripled the budget dedicated to tackling TB.
  • And we received information that would be highly useful as we move to implementing the Political Declaration:
  • Mr. Gates noted that, while the percentage of TB patients receiving quality care has tripled since 2000, saving 54 million lives; millions more were?falling through the cracks as so-called ‘missing’ TB patients;
  • And WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros pointed out that for us to reach all 40 million people needing care by 2022, we need all countries to become champions.
  • Finally, we learned about positive developments, such as the ‘TB drug accelerator’, an example of collaboration between academia and the private sector, with the possibility of resulting in the development of new drugs. Or the work of the BRICS Research Network on Tuberculosis, a promising initiative established last year.

Excellencies, both SDG3 and the WHO End TB Strategy call for an end to the TB epidemic by 2030.

We know how to prevent this illness; we know how to treat it; we know how many people, and their families, it impacts.

The question is – are we ready to act?

What we need now, is for our leaders in government and in the private sector, to step up and invest the resources that are needed.

The plan is on the table, the commitments have been made, the only thing left to do is to get up and do it.

Let us be the generation that ends TB once and for all.

Thank you.