March 24, 2025
Commit, Invest, Deliver, and End TB in the Asia-Pacific!
ACT! AP & APCASO Joint Statement for World TB Day 2025
Every minute, 13 people fall ill with TB in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to more than 60% of new TB infections globally. Worse, while TB remains preventable, treatable and curable, more than 1 person still dies of TB every minute in the region. In 2023, Member States committed to 90% TB treatment coverage by 2027, 90% TB preventive treatment coverage by 2027, and 100% coverage for rapid diagnostic testing by 2027, among other targets. For civil society organisations, TB-affected communities, and TB survivors, this means stepping up and leading the TB response alongside peers and communities. Doing so results in reduction of future infections through outreach, better support for people with TB by linking them to treatment and care, fighting TB-related stigma and discrimination, and advocating for increased and secure funding for TB and community-led responses in the Asia-Pacific region. As people affected by or have survived TB, our lived experiences and realities are irreplaceable and have enabled us to participate in the TB response – making our voices heard, engaging in policy making platforms, and advocating for greater investment for TB within our countries.
However, the ongoing attacks on civil society spaces and disenfranchisement of communities in decision-making spaces, aggravated by historic global TB funding cuts, threaten not only the achievement of TB targets but also decades of progress in the TB response. In particular, the recent decision of the United States government to terminate US-funded and US-supported initiatives—including those that enable communities to mobilise, support TB service delivery, and advocate for a sustainable, people-centered response—is disrupting national TB responses with fatal consequences among hundreds of thousands of people across the Asia-Pacific region.
As the world observes World TB Day this year, ACT! AP calls on Member States, funding partners, and fellow civil society and TB-affected communities to Commit, Invest, & Deliver:
- COMMIT: Member States cannot run away from their commitments to the 2023 UN Political Declaration on TB. Nor can they escape their commitments to their people, especially those who are vulnerable and at risk to TB. As an airborne disease, TB must be everybody’s business. TB in one country is TB in every country. Member States must leverage their political will and re-commit to end TB by 2030. They must match these commitments with action.
- INVEST: Member States, funding partners, and private foundations must invest directly in community-led responses to TB. A dollar invested in TB response brings a return of investment of 43USD. Moreover, a direct investment in community-led responses empowers communities to combat stigma and discrimination, protect their rights and dignity, and pave access to TB services for all, regardless of gender, age, and socioeconomic status. Investing in TB is not only the right thing to do, it is also a wise thing to do.
- DELIVER: Civil society and TB-affected communities must continue to build their capacities and the capacities of the communities that they serve and represent to continue to effectively engage in ways to end TB. We need to continue raising awareness. We need to continue providing support. We need to continue fighting against stigma and discrimination. We need to continue advocating for increased investment, and innovative people-centered solutions in TB. We need to continue to be resilient, to overcome, to adapt, and to resist especially in these precarious times.
Right now, the TB response, as with the entire global health response, is traversing risky waters. Political commitments are shifting, and funding for health is decreasing. TB will continue to remain airborne; unless we ACT now, more people will die of TB, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Don’t leave our region behind!
Yes, we can end TB!
Commit! Invest! Deliver!
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The Activists Coalition on TB – Asia-Pacific (ACT! AP) is the first and only regional coalition of TB activists. Its goal is to represent communities affected by TB and carry their voices at the regional level. It is guided by its 5 Commitments to Action (2024-2030): (1) we will ACT to strongly maintain and elevate the political attention and will to end TB; (2) we will ACT to realise inclusive community, rights, and gender (CRG) and people-centred approaches to TB; (3) we will ACT to overcome barriers to TB preventive therapy (TPT) and treatment including 1/4/6 x 24, molecular diagnostics, and vaccine access benefitting from the latest in R&D and innovation; (4) we will ACT towards securing adequate and strategic investments for TB as part of integrated services, making sure that these investments go to the right interventions, including investment to communities; and (5) we will ACT to support a coordinated and capacitated TB community and activist movement, serving as a platform for national, regional, and global advocacy, cross-learning, and solidarity-building. At present, ACT! AP has more than 30 members in 15 countries across Asia-Pacific.
APCASO is an Asia-Pacific regional civil society network organisation that serves as a catalytic platform for advocacy and community systems strengthening for health, social justice, and human rights for key, vulnerable, and marginalised communities in Asia-Pacific. We work with civil society and community-led organisational partners in Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam. For more information, visit our website at https://apcaso.org. Our 2023 Annual Report is also available here.