ABOUT THIS PROJECT

APCASO, in partnership with the Activists Coalition on TB – Asia Pacific (ACT! AP), with support from the Stop TB Partnership through the Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS) 2019, USAID, and the Global Fund, will spearhead the The RIGHT TO BREATHE Project beginning August 2020 to July 2021. This grant aims to scale up human rights advocacy within the TB response by establishing an Asia Pacific human rights advocacy agenda for TB that will provide APCASO and ACT! AP a framework for advocacy for as we engage with the national, regional, and multilateral bodies including international funding donors such as The Global Fund. The RIGHT TO BREATHE project will also provide in-country support in the rollout and implementation of national TB and human rights advocacy plans in Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and Viet Nam. By the end of this grant, a regional human rights advocacy agenda complemented by an advocacy roadmap, and a national-level commitment as an outcome of a regional dialogue will be produced. Civil society organisations, TB-affected communities, and TB survivors will also become more aware of their human rights and can identify and document human rights violations, and link to appropriate legal and paralegal services as necessary. Through advocacy-related efforts in this grant, national governments will be guided in shifting towards a more human rights-based approach to addressing TB in their respective countries.

GOAL

To establish an Asia Pacific human rights advocacy agenda that will influence national TB responses and align with the regional and global TB agenda for a rights-based TB response.

OBJECTIVES

Support civil society, TB-affected communities, and TB survivors groups in the rollout of the TB and Human Rights Training Manual and in the implementation of their advocacy plans
Lead the development of a regional human rights advocacy agenda for the TB response
Advocate and influence inclusion of human rights agenda into the regional and national TB responses

Improving capacity of TB-affected community on TB services and human right issues

by Vu Ngoc Hoa, SCDI - Viet Nam TB remains a highly medical issue in Viet Nam. People affected by TB have very little information about it: from TB symptoms, prevention, treatment, and care. People showing symptoms mostly go to the pharmacy to buy medicine without proper consultation. In some cases, they go to the hospital but only to receive improper treatment. As a result, many cases turn to MDR-TB or face serious side-effects. Consequently, family members or people who have close contacts are also affected and are not advised to go for TB screening. We from the Centre for Supporting...

Asia-Pacific Dialogue on TB and Human Rights

And that's a wrap! Thank you to more than 35 civil society representatives, TB-affected communities, and technical partners including World Health Organization South-East Asia Region - WHO SEARO, World Health Organization Western Pacific Region and Stop TB Partnership who participated in our Asia-Pacific Dialogue on TB and Human Rights! We were very grateful for the commitment of the Civil Society Writing Team for developing a comprehensive Regional TB and Human Rights Advocacy Strategy. We would also like to express our deep appreciation to the efforts made by our country partners, KP...

Asia-Pacific TB and Human Rights Advocacy Strategy Consultation

Last July 29, around 45 civil society and TB-affected community participants attended the Asia-Pacific TB and Human Rights Advocacy Strategy Consultation. Building on the progresses to advance rights-based approaches to TB in Asia-Pacific while at the same time learning from these experiences from the 3 countries and based on the outcomes of the regional Training of Trainers (TOT), APCASO in partnership with ACT! AP and Stop TB Partnership organized a regional community and civil society consultation that aims to develop a regional community-led advocacy strategy on TB and human rights. This...

TB survivors and TB-affected communities contributes to Nepal’s TB response through the “Right to BREATHE” Project

by Achut Sitaula, Trisuli Plus (with support from Mayra Rai, APCASO) Civil society engagement and mobilization is key for ensuring TB response is on track, directly resulting in the targets uptaken by Nepal. The target population and focus of the country’s TB response included TB survivors and community health providers, in keeping with the Accessibility, Acceptability, Availability, and Quality (AAAQ) Framework. At the country level, the regular mentorship and capacity building of TB-affected communities and TB survivors act as a supporting factor for advocacy and mobilization in regards to...

Community-Led Advocacy Program on TB

by Lesley Bola, Key Population Advocacy Consortium - PNG Civil Society plays a big role in supporting the advocacy, prevention, and treatment of TB & HIV programmes in Papua New Guinea. The civil society and key population-led organizations in the country extends its role to support a weak health system, filling in gaps where health system cannot support, and complementing the health system in supporting its clients to access lifesaving TB and HIV services. In spite of this, one critical area that civil society engages in the PNG TB response is the role of advocacy. While it is clear...

ACT! AP’s World TB Day 2021 6-Day campaign

This World TB Day 2021, the Activists' Coalition on TB - Asia Pacific (ACT! AP), hosted by APCASO, and in partnership with the Stop TB Partnership, organised a social media campaign to support the Six Priority Action Areas from the Deadly Divide Report that was launched in 2020. Beginning March 19, 2021, one social media postcard was posted on APCASO's Facebook page highlighting a specific Priority Action Area that was contextualised to reflecting the challenges faced by the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. As of this writing, the campaign garnered 4,520 reach, 78 clicks, and 279...

Regional TB and Human Rights TOT – South Asia Plus Run

Congratulations to the 10 civil society and TB-affected community participants from ASD Pakistan, the Global Coalition of Tuberculosis Activists (GCTA), Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), Trisuli Plus, and REACH, along with APCASO staff who successfully completed the South Asia Plus Run of the Regional TB and Human Rights Virtual Training of Trainers held online between October 15 to 30! This concludes the first part of the Challenge Facility grant that APCASO, together with ACT! AP, received through the support of the Stop TB Partnership.

Regional TB and Human Rights TOT – Southeast Asia Run

And it's a wrap for the Southeast Asia run of the TB and Human Rights Training of Trainers (TOT)! We had nine TOT participants from five countries representing ACHIEVE Inc., Perhimpunan Organisasi Pasien TB Indonesia, Stop TB Indonesia, Alliance Myanmar, KHANA Cambodia, and SCDI who participated in this 4-day TOT from September 24 to October 5. Special thanks to Stop TB Partnership for the support through the Challenge Facility!

CFCS Asia webinar

Last 25 August 2020, 12 of Stop TB Partnership's CFCS Round 9 grantees that will be implemented in Asia-Pacific presented shared about their grants and identified possible areas of partnership among CFCS grantees in the region. This webinar was co-organised by APCASO, ACT! AP, and the Stop TB Partnership.

PROJECT TIMELINE

CHALLENGE FACILITY ACROSS THE REGION

The RIGHT TO BREATHE Project will be supporting civil society and TB-affected community-led organisations in three countries, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and Viet Nam, to ensure in-country rollout of the TB and Human Rights, and to implement advocacy activities so that national TB responses adopt rights-based approach to TB.

RESOURCES

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