25 May 2016 – Geneva, Switzerland – The Government of Canada today announced a renewed investment of CA$ 85 million for the Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative over the next five years. This new injection of funding will help the Partnership to reach, treat and cure many of the 3.6 million people affected by TB who every year go without proper care. TB REACH will continue to test innovative, daring and fresh strategies for improving TB detection, service delivery, roll-out of new tools and policies. The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada’s Minister of International Development and La Francophonie made the announcement at the UN Palais des Nations, on the margins of the World Health Assembly which is happening this week in Geneva.

“Our fight against tuberculosis must become more ambitious and innovative if we are going to end this epidemic for good by 2030. Canada believes supporting the work of TB REACH will bring us closer to that goal,” said the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada’s Minister of International Development and La Francophonie.

Along with the Government of Canada, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged US$ 7 million to fund TB REACH. This funding from the Gates Foundation will complement Canada’s investment. The Indonesia Health Fund, comprised of eight Indonesian business leaders convened by Dato Sri Dr. Tahir, has also pledged US $1.5 million to support TB REACH’s Indonesian efforts.

“I am thrilled and deeply grateful to the Government of Canada for their reinvestment into one of the Partnership’s most successful initiatives. By promoting innovations, TB REACH improved case detection in some settings by more than 100% – especially reaching those who are most vulnerable. The value of this financing is immeasurable, and is coming at the right moment. If we want to end TB, it will involve a paradigm shift in the way TB programs are constructed and scaled up. We can no longer tolerate limited approaches which merely aim to ‘control’ TB. Instead we must be bold and invest in innovative approaches to achieve the ambitious 90-(90)-90 targets set out in the Global Plan to End TB 2016-2020,” said Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, expressing her appreciation for the country’s commitment to end TB.

The Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative was launched in 2010 with an initial 5-year award from the Government of Canada. The initiative provides grants to partners for testing innovative strategies and technologies aimed at increasing the number of people diagnosed and treated for TB, decreasing the time to appropriate treatment and improving treatment success rates. It combines fast-track, results-based financing and rigorous, monitoring and evaluation to produce results, so other donor agencies and/or national governments can scale up successful approaches and maximize their own investments. The evidence TB REACH grantees generate around innovative strategies and technologies helps to inform national and global policy and ultimately serves to accelerate reductions in TB incidence.

Between 2010 and 2016, TB REACH provided 142 grants in 46 countries worth over US$ 95 million. Working in close collaboration with National TB Programmes, TB REACH grantees have diagnosed and treated over 2 million TB patients in project areas and saved nearly 600,000 lives.

Over the next 5 years, the programme is expected to launch four calls for proposals through 2020. The areas of focus for these calls will be decided through consultations with partners, including representatives of those most affected by the disease.

Justin Trudeau pledges $785M over 3 years to fight AIDS, TB and malaria

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/justin-trudeau-global-fund-1.3573142

Terry Nan Tannenbaum: 1952-2016

Terry’s first contact with the TB world was a brief encounter with a young Jane Carter, when Terry was an undergraduate at Brown University. Following this liberal arts education, she returned to Canada for medical school, at Calgary, then family medicine training at the Jewish General Hospital. She continued her North American travels – with training in Community Medicine and an MPH at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She then returned to Montreal with her husband and young family; she settled down, bought a house in Westmount, and entered Public Health in Montreal. Here she developed a PASSION for tuberculosis – assuming responsibility for all TB in Montreal from 1994 until 2006 – teaching her colleagues (especially at the Montreal Chest Institute) everything they know about TB. During this period, she was the Medical Director for 6 years of a Canada-Ecuador cooperative project to implement and expand DOTS in that country. She chaired a Canadian Federal-Provincial committee on TB – a rare position for a Quebecer! She also was President of the Union-North America Region from 2003-2005. After that she completed an MBA at McGill, and with these new skills rose to Chief of Infectious Diseases for the Montreal Public Health Unit in 2008, and then Assistant Director of Montreal Public Health in 2012.

Terry made many important contributions to TB control – in Montreal, and in North and South America. Her intellect and sensible, pragmatic approach made every project she worked on more useful and helpful; this, coupled with her charm and perseverance ensured the success of those projects. But it was her tremendous energy, infectious enthusiasm, and wonderful sense of humour (and fashion) that made work with Terry so enjoyable, lively, and memorable – for the many who were lucky enough to have the opportunity and privilege. We are proud to call her our colleague, friend and teacher. We miss her so much already.

Kevin Schwartzman and Dick Menzies

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Globe and Mail obituary:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/terry-nan-tannenbaum-public-health-doctors-war-on-illness-turned-personal/article29561066/

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Other News:

April 3rd 2016 – Huffington Post World TB Day article by the chairs of Canada’s Parliamentary HAT caucus (HIV/AIDS and TB): http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/development-unplugged/world-tuberculosis-day_b_9531162.html

March 24th, 2016 – Announcement of Taima TB study on use of rifapentine + INH regimen for treatment of LTBI in Nunavut and Ottawa: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/world-tuberculosis-day-latent-tb-study-1.3505051

March 23rd, 2016 – Stop TB Partnership launches publication series on TB in key populations, starting with migrants and refugees* : http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=85207b84f0f2d8ddc9bd878de&id=e203435193&e=a8dd22e217

Feb 24, 2016 – New agreement to make delamanid available through Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility: http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=85207b84f0f2d8ddc9bd878de&id=ac8514823d&e=a8dd22e217

Dec 22nd, 2015 – TB screening in Nunavik in wake of outbreak: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/salluit-tb-screening-hold-for-holidays-1.3377292

February 24th, 2015 – Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility Achieves Historic Price Reduction for MDR-TB Drug Cycloserine: http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=85207b84f0f2d8ddc9bd878de&id=9541a63014&e=d164578a38

January 21, 2015 – Stop TB Partnership Applauds Appointment of Emma Thompson as New TB Ambassador: http://www.stoptb.org/news/stories/2015/ns15_003.asp

January 15, 2015 – “Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone”: Stop TB Partnership Announces Theme for World TB Day 2015: http://www.stoptb.org/news/stories/2015/ns15_001.asp

October 29, 2014 – UK MP Nick Herbert Officially Launches the Barcelona Declaration: http://www.globaltbcaucus.org/#!Nick-Herbert-MP-Officially-Launches-the-Barcelona-Declaration/c1ajv/EB4EEB7A-E7AC-4B97-B0EB-0C07FC854E27

October 27, 2014 – Inaugural Global TB Summit Culminates with Launch of Global TB Caucus: http://www.globaltbcaucus.org/#!Inaugural-Global-TB-Summit-Culminates-with-Launch-of-Global-TB-Caucus/c1ajv/1

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