Stop TB Canada Newsletter

May 2024 Newsletter

Stop TB Canada’s 2023-24 Annual Report

Stop TB Canada’s fourth annual report celebrates our impact and growth between April 2023 and March 2024. This report illustrates how Stop TB Canada has continued to raise awareness, promote policy action, and support communities affected by tuberculosis (TB). Each activity that the network engaged in this year helped move the needle towards realizing our vision of a world without TB.

Stop TB Canada is a network that welcomes anyone who shares our passion and commitment to this vision of TB elimination. If you would like to get involved with Stop TB Canada, please refer to the last page of this report for all of the ways that you can connect with us. Together, #YesWeCanEndTB!

Read the report here.

Brenda Waning Recognized as One of Time's 100 Influential People in Health

Brenda Waning, head of the Global Drug Facility (GDF) has been named one of Time's 100 Influential People in Health for her transformative work in global TB care.

The GDF, the largest procurer of TB tests and treatments, provides 100 TB medicines from 24 manufacturers at discounted prices that all countries can afford. In her feature, she emphasizes the need for equitable access to TB treatments, highlighting that even wealthy countries can benefit from the GDF’s affordable and effective TB medications.

“GDF is so successful that if you have TB, you’re better off being in a poor country than a rich country right now. If you’re a kid in Spain vs. a kid in Malawi, why shouldn’t that kid be able to access the same products?” - Brenda Waning

Learn more about her impactful work and vision for the future.

TB and Antimicrobial Resistance

Earlier this year, a Global Scientific Panel on AMR and TB with representatives from more than 25 countries, including Canada, was established to develop a white paper aimed at informing the negotiations for the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on AMR scheduled for September.

The final white paper, summarizing the recommendations for Member States, can be found here. The central message of this document underscores the critical interconnection between efforts to end TB and those to combat AMR. It emphasizes that success in one area is contingent upon progress in the other.

Survey: Access to TB Medicines in Canada

Stop TB Canada is conducting a survey to gather information, stories, and experiences of frontline TB care providers and people affected by TB/their families on barriers to access to essential TB medicines in Canada.

This includes delays in accessing rifapentine and components of multidrug-resistant TB regimens that are not Health Canada-approved or marketed in Canada and are only available through temporary access programs, and the lack of access to paediatric TB formulations in Canada. Results of the survey will be used to support Stop TB Canada's advocacy for greater access to essential TB medicines in Canada.

You can access the surveys (in English and French) for both healthcare providers and patients/caregivers below. Please print out the poster with QR code and display in your clinic if you work with people affected by TB.

Healthcare provider survey English and French

Patient / caregiver survey English and French

Publication Spotlight

Why does TB have such a hold on the Inuit communities of the Canadian Arctic?

In a country where the rate of TB is among the world's lowest – 4.8 active cases per 100,000 people – the territory of Nunavut is an extraordinary outlier. About 1 in 500 people had active TB in 2021 in Nunavut, which is home to about 40,000 people, most of them Inuit. Read more. here.

A century after the first TB vaccine, a new vaccine is reigniting hope

Imagine a world where TB doesn’t steal millions of lives each year. That dream might be inching closer, thanks to a groundbreaking vaccine trial kicking off in South Africa. Read more.

WHO updates list of drug-resistant bacteria most threatening to human health

The WHO has released its updated 2024 Bacterial Priority Pathogens List, highlighting critical, high, and medium priority antibiotic-resistant bacteria and guiding the development of new treatments to combat antimicrobial resistance. Read more.

Key Dates

June 20: World Refugee Day

June 21: National Indigenous Peoples Day

Follow us at TBPeople Canada!

TBpeople is a global network of people affected by TB on a mission to unite people and defeat TB. Follow along and join us in building this network in Canada:

Are you or have you been affected by TB? Please consider joining TBpeople Canada to connect with others who have been impacted by TB, and share stories, resources and support with your peers. To learn more about this network, visit our website at https://www.stoptbcanada.com/tbpeoplecanada.

Do you work closely with TB clinics and/or those affected by TB? Click to download and print the flyer on our website and share it in your clinic.

Remain connected by joining our directory

Join our directory of TB researchers, practitioners, advocates and survivors based in Canada to connect with colleagues and engage in our advocacy!

Join the directory by completing this short form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdq1aT8U0Lfj66TqvDV_7yP0vC38i3AABfwWBcd8T-9_p5yBA/viewform

Thank you!

This newsletter is supported by resources donated by Results Canada, the McGill International TB Center, TB in Focus and ZMQ Development.