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.
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