Declaration of the rights of people affected by tuberculosis launched

Tuberculosis (TB) is the world’s number one cause of death from an infectious disease and remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, despite being preventable and curable.

Reacting to the unacceptable burden of disease and death caused by TB, a new network of TB survivors and affected communities, called TB People, compiled the Declaration of the Rights of People Affected by Tuberculosis, with the support of leading human rights lawyers and the Stop TB Partnership.

The declaration, launched on 14 May at the Global Health Campus in Geneva, Switzerland, will guide countries to implement the commitments made at the 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis and will inform the last board meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) before its replenishment meeting in Lyon, France, in October.

“Too many people have been buried whose lives could have been saved if their rights had been protected,” said Maurine Murenga, communities representative on the board of the Global Fund. “Too many children have survived and been cured of tuberculosis only to be forced to sit isolated on one side of their classroom with their classmates on the other side,” she added.

The lack of human rights protections makes people more vulnerable to developing TB disease, negatively affects their ability to access effective treatment and exposes them to stigma and discrimination by the very fact of having TB. TB-related human rights violations include failures to diagnose or treat people properly, restricted access to health information by people living with TB and shackling prisoners accessing TB treatment in hospital.

For the first time, the rights of people affected by TB that are enshrined in existing global and regional human rights laws are listed in one declaration alongside an explanation of their relevance for people affected by TB. This innovative declaration aims to inform and empower people and communities affected by TB to be able to claim and protect their right to a life free from TB and when necessary to ensure equitable access to quality TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment, free from stigma and discrimination.

The declaration also seeks to ensure that governments and other service providers are aware of their commitments and obligations to protect and promote the rights of people affected by TB.

Original source: UNAIDS
Published on 16 May 2019