As a civil society organization fighting to end TB, TAG and their allies are immensely concerned about the upcoming 2022 Global Tuberculosis Report set to be released next week by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is expected that the coronavirus-related disruptions that drove rising TB deaths revealed by the 2021 Report – the first such increase since 2005 – to persist and that this disheartening trajectory will once again be visible in 2022. For an infectious disease that’s preventable and curable, this is unacceptable.       

While decades of political neglect have long forced us to fight TB using outdated tools, investments in research and development have finally delivered shorter, safer and more effective treatment regimens. Relative to their predecessors, these newer regimens are quicker to complete and sharply reduce severe side effects and improve patient outcomes – but very few people at risk of or with TB have access to them.       

The need for a major paradigm shift in TB has never been clearer, and the 1/4/6x24 Campaign charts a path forward. The Campaign gets its name from its central demand – that the shortest available treatment regimens – one month or once weekly for TB preventive treatment, four months for drug-sensitive TB and six months for drug-resistant TB – be made accessible to everyone, everywhere as a human right by the end of 2024. The 1/4/6x24 Campaign was launched in memory of the late Partners in Health (PIH) cofounder Dr. Paul Farmer to rally the energy, funding, and political will necessary to end TB.

Please join the 1/4/6x24 Campaign Coalition at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 28 at 8:30 a.m. for our session at the USAID TB Symposium “1/4/6x24 Campaign Call to Action: Kick Starting Momentum Toward the HLM.” 

The event will outline why 1/4/6x24 is so urgent, and how it will transform the lives of people at risk of and living with TB, and the fight to end TB. It will also feature exclusive announcements of commitments from governments and global health actors about how they’ll contribute to achieving 1/4/6x24.        

You can learn more and register to view the livestream / webcast of the session here.