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Christians urged to join letter writing campaign calling for greater action on TB

Christians are being encouraged to join a letter-writing campaign urging greater action to tackle tuberculosis.

The campaign, which is being run by the World Council of Churches – Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, is calling on faith leaders, churches, representatives of faith-based organisations and people of faith to ask to their governments to urgently take action to end TB.

The airborne disease is responsible for the most deaths worldwide of any single communicable disease. World Health Organization figures show that in 2016, 1.7 million people died from the disease with 95 per cent of deaths occurring in low and middle-income nations.

Francesca Merico, coordinator of the WCC-EAA HIV campaign, said that, while preventable and curable, TB “is among the top 10 causes of child mortality globally, and the risk of developing tuberculosis is estimated to be between 16 to 27 times greater in people living with HIV than among those without HIV infection”.

On 26th September, the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to hold a high-level meeting where UN member states are expected to adopt a political declaration on ending TB.

Ms Merico says the event “is an enormous opportunity to build political will to end TB”.

“[A]nd it is very important that the discussions include churches, faith communities and related institutions, for making sure that each government is represented at the highest level. Ending TB requires high-level political leadership: churches, faith communities and leaders need to speak up to change the situation, to demand that action is taken by governments and the international community.”

A template letter has been drafted addressed to ministries of health, foreign ministers and heads of state, asking them to participate in the high level meeting and to ask for a commitment to reaching all people with diagnosis and treatment as well as to develop new tools to end TB.

 

 

 

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