The advocacy continues following the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB
The close of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB (TB HLM), which took place during the UN General Assembly this September, did not mark the end of our advocacy campaign, but rather added fuel to our fire as we work to build the political will to end TB. After months of advocacy, calling on Canada to show up to the TB HLM with bold commitments to help end TB, we were disappointed by Canada’s engagement at this meeting. And so, now we are letting decision makers know.
In an effort to hold Canadian leaders accountable to their mandates and foster collaboration across ministries, Stop TB Canada has written letters to various federal Ministers following up on Canada's lackluster presence at the TB HLM. Through these letters, we expressed our disappointment with the lack of meaningful commitments made by Canada while outlining how TB elimination is not only relevant to the work of these Ministers, but is a critical component of the mandates for which they are responsible.
Canada missed its opportunity to step up as a global leader at the TB HLM. Now, we turn to the Ministers of Health, Indigenous Services, Immigration, and International Development to answer our call for greater action in the quest to end TB.
The letters centre around Stop TB Canada’s current campaigns calling for Canada to take the high-impact actions needed to make progress towards TB elimination targets, including for Canada to:
Establish a National TB Elimination Strategy, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, Indigenous leaders and TB-affected communities, that would:
Improve TB screening strategies among high-priority groups and expand preventive therapy.
Address the social determinants of health and barriers to TB care.
Improve access to essential medicines for TB treatment.
Implement a timely and robust TB surveillance infrastructure, to provide up-to-date surveillance data, appropriately disaggregated to highlight gaps in TB care.
Adopt accountability, monitoring and evaluation measures for TB programming.
Increase investments in research and development for TB to support the scientific innovation needed to improve the tools we have to prevent, diagnose, and treat TB.
Letter to Minister of Health, Hon. Mark Holland
The COVID-19 pandemic set back global TB elimination efforts by more than a decade and Canada was not immune to this impact. As resources were redirected and staff were redeployed to address COVID-19, TB programs were often neglected and people affected by TB were left behind. Communities across Canada are still feeling the impact of this shift and are calling for urgent political action.
In our letter to Hon. Mark Holland, we call on Canada to scale up a coordinated approach to addressing the TB crisis and specifically call on Minister Holland’s leadership in developing a National TB Elimination Strategy.
Letter to Minister of Indigenous Services, Hon. Patty Hajdu
Although the overall TB burden in Canada is low, certain populations are disproportionately impacted, with Indigenous communities bearing the highest rates of TB in the country. TB among Canada’s Inuit is nearly 300 times higher than the non-Indigenous, Canadian-born population, demonstrating the longstanding impact of colonization and the social determinants of health.
Our letter to Hon. Patty Hajdu urges the government of Canada to include Indigenous leaders and TB-affected communities in the development of a National TB Elimination Strategy, to protect the health of people in Canada most at risk of TB. We underscore that addressing the TB crisis in Canada is also about taking meaningful steps towards reconciliation and health equity.
Letter to Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Hon. Marc Miller
The majority of people affected by TB in Canada were born in other countries. This presents a unique challenge in protecting the health of new arrivals to Canada, as the current system presents many barriers to ensuring continuity of care. Recent trends in immigration have revealed a pressing concern regarding the influx of refugees and the associated capacity issues across ministries. This has illuminated the urgent need for an integrated and robust healthcare framework capable of addressing the complexities of emerging challenges within the immigrant population.
Our letter to Hon. Marc Miller highlights how the current system's inability to promptly identify and provide comprehensive care to individuals with TB has hindered our collective efforts to eliminate this preventable disease from our communities. We call on Minister Miller’s support in establishing a National TB Elimination Strategy developed in collaboration with relevant partners to ensure that there is a seamless transition for new arrivals and that healthcare services, adequate housing and social services are available upon arrival.
Letter to Minister of International Development, Hon. Ahmed Hussen
TB remains a leading global cause of death and the deadliest infectious disease, despite its long history. A significant barrier to TB elimination is evident by the tools available to prevent, diagnose, and treat TB. The tools that are currently used around the world are significantly outdated and ineffective to adequately address the TB epidemic. Yet, TB research and development is severely underfunded, preventing the scientific innovation necessary to develop new tools.
Our letter to Hon. Ahmed Hussen underscores Canada’s commitment to contributing its fair share to TB research and development and calls on Canada to increase its investments in TB innovation to keep this promise.
In addition to these letters that were sent on behalf of Stop TB Canada to the Ministers outlined above, Stop TB Canada also organized a public sign-on letter addressed to Prime Minister Trudeau. The letter, which was signed by over 100 individuals, was sent to the Prime Minister at the end of November, calling for Canada to take urgent action in the quest to end TB. Stop TB Canada remains committed to holding Canada accountable to the commitments it has made to eliminate TB in Canada and abroad.