World TB Day

Each year, advocacy and social mobilisation activities are planned around the theme animating that year's event. For example, in 2004 the theme of "Every Breath Counts - Stop TB Now!" was chosen because of the association of TB with breath, and the inseparability of the acting of breathing with life itself. The Stop TB Partnership encouraged creative visual and textual interpretation of this theme, depending on the various contexts, cultures, and languages in which the messages would be communicated. (For more on the selection of the 2004 theme, and on that year's communication strategies, click here). To cite another example, World TB Day (WTBD) 2005 is specifically focused on frontline TB care providers, whom organisers describe as "The most knowledgeable and credible voices to articulate the need for political commitment and resources to fight TB...Give a platform for frontline providers to speak out for help!"

Audiences for a particular year's campaign are selected to support the theme, and then key issues and messages are developed accordingly. In 2005, the primary audience will be policymakers, media, public health workers, civil society groups, and communities affected by TB in the 22 HBCs (high TB burden countries - click here to view a map). These personnel have been identified based on their capacity to highlight "the vital role of frontline TB care providers and the need to ensure maximal political commitment, resources and tools to support their work". Secondary audiences will include the global media, donor organisations, multilateral institutions, and technical agencies - all of whom can, it is hoped, put TB high on the global health agenda. Among the messages that the Stop TB Partnership has identified to communicate to these audiences are: "Pro-poor policies in TB control programmes - connect development, sustainable financing, and the right to health" and "Public-private collaborations - strengthen the provider network by making the fight against TB everybody's business."

Activities, products, and events are then structured in the context of the theme and audience that have been selected. Each year, in the months leading up to the March event, the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat distributes "Briefing Notes" (via regular Email Alerts and through posting on the Stop TB website) to those participating in that year's WTBD. These notes are meant to support the planning and implementing of global and regional advocacy and social mobilisation activities, which in 2005 will include:

• Press releases and press conferences - media organisations are key communication partners here. The Stop TB Partnership Secretariat collaborates with WHO in producing a release for global distribution that highlights the main findings, trends, and implications of the annual WHO Global TB Control Report (available for purchase each year; to access a summary of the 2004 Report, click here). They will also produce a related B-roll video of TB footage for distribution to electronic media. The Secretariat will also collaborate with partners and media consultants in the production of materials to support specific media events.
• Global TB Report Card - in cooperation with the Massive Effort Campaign (click here for a summary of this Campaign), the Stop TB Partnership Secretariat will publish a booklet that presents data from the WHO Global TB Control Report in what will hopefully be a more accessible format for use by journalists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists. The booklet will have an introduction, a glossary of terms, and 1-page "TB Report Cards" on each of the 22 HBCs. Information will also be presented on TB/HIV co-infection and incidence of multidrug-resistant TB. The publication will be made available to Stop TB partners and national TB programmes in electronic and printed format.
• TB Media Fellowships - the role of reporters in disseminating information about TB and in mobilising the public - not just around the WTBD event itself but throughout the year - is acknowledged here, as well. The Stop TB Partnership Secretariat and PANOS Institute (London) have jointly developed a year-long project to support critical, in-depth reportage on the fight against TB in 9 selected countries around the world: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Pakistan, Philippines and Zambia. The aim is to enable selected press reporters and photojournalists in these countries to better explore and understand the linkages between TB, HIV/AIDS, poverty, urbanisation, and other socio-economic factors, and to build their skills and capacities to report on these issues. The competition will be launched on WTBD 2005, with widespread advertisement by PANOS. The winning journalists will receive stipends and technical assistance to undertake 3 to 4 months of research and reporting on TB stories. The project will end on WTBD 2006 with the announcement of cash awards for the best press articles and photography work.
• Global Drug Facility Achievement Report: Four Million Treatments in Four Years - On 24 March, the Global Drug Facility (GDF) will launch this report detailing its efforts since 2001 to "expand access to, and availability of, high quality TB drugs, thereby facilitating DOTS expansion, by supplying uninterrupted access to quality TB drugs for qualifying DOTS programmes. To date, the GDF provides TB drugs to over forty countries worldwide."
• E-forum - Health and Development Networks (HDNet) has proposed a 3-month e-forum on the 2005 WTBD theme (the vital role of frontline TB providers) in an effort to strengthen public and political support for the fight against TB by involving more civil society organisations and community voices. The e-forum would be linked to the Stop TB web page for WTBD and the summary results presented in TB forums throughout the remainder of 2005.
• TB Ambassadors - well-known public figures use their voices for strong TB control advocacy; the Partnership will coordinate its efforts/messaging with these personnel.
• WTBD website - each year, a section of the Stop TB website is dedicated to WTBD as a source of communication and information dissemination to Partners (and the public). Among the components are the Briefing Notes noted above, information products available for download, a discussion forum that will provide a space for dialogue and information gathering, a space for partners to report on planned/implemented activities, and media and communications resources.

Health.

Governments have pledged to detect 70% of all infectious TB cases and cure 85% of those cases by the end of 2005. Meeting these "process" targets, organisers explain, is essential to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing TB prevalence and deaths by half relative to the year 1990.

The Stop TB Partnership involves organisations and individuals worldwide committed to short- and long-term measures required to control and eventually eliminate TB as a public health problem in the world. The Partnership's priorities are to expand, adapt, and improve advocacy, communication, and resource mobilisation strategies to control and eliminate TB.

Organisers encourage people to
report any planned activities for WTBD 2005 to stoptbadvocacy@who.int