Inequity within low- and middle-income countries as well as between the Global North and Global South has historically either directly or indirectly fuelled or exacerbated risk factors that put people at risk of preventable diseases and untimely deaths. More alarming is that inequity is also jeopardising health responses, especially in Global South, putting the most vulnerable peoples and communities at heightened risk of poorer health and even worsened access to standard healthcare services.

TB continues to be the deadliest of infectious diseases in high burden countries (though COVID-19 became the deadliest infectious disease in richer nations). TB is preventable and curable, but it was not so for over 10.6 million people last year who got TB, and 1.5 million who died of TB. It is INEQUITY that is blocking access of most at risk people and communities to best of TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care, and support services. This is unacceptable because we have the evidence-based tools to take best of TB services closer to the communities and walk the talk on “TB is preventable as well as curable”. But unless we uproot inequity that thwarts efforts to end TB, we will not only fail to #KeepThePromise to end TB by 2030 but also impede progress on other goals and targets related to SDGs.

PANEL OF SPEAKERS

·       Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership (video message)
·       Dr Tara Singh Bam, Board Director, Asia Pacific Cities Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT) (video message)
·       Dr Prajowl Shrestha, Director, National Tuberculosis Control Centre, Nepal
·       Dr Bikash Devkota, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Population, Govt of Nepal
·       Dr Sagar Rajbhandari, Technical Committee Coordinator, Nepal Anti-Tuberculosis Association
·       Dr Ashish Shrestha, Senior Technical Advisor (TB), The Global Fund/ Save The Children, Nepal
·       Sadikshya Sapkota, President, National Youth Movement Against TB, Nepal
·       Sumit Mitra, President, Molbio Diagnostics
·       Kalpana Acharya (moderator) & Editor-in-Chief, Health TV Online, Nepal & APCAT Media board member and Global AMR Media Alliance board member

Session incharge and Chairperson: Kalpana Acharya, Editor-in-Chief, Health TV Online, Nepal