On Monday 13^th May 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Stop TB Partnership, together with TBpeople (a global network of people affected by TB), as well as the three NGO and communities delegations to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, will host the launch of the Declaration of the Rights of People Affected by TB.

We are excited that Lucica Ditiu, our Executive Director, and the affected community representatives to the Stop TB Partnership Board, Timur Abdullaev and Thoko Nkhoma, will be joined by amazing global health leaders, human rights experts, and key stakeholders  including Dr. Tedros Adhanom - Director General of the WHO,  Peter Sands and Marijke Wijnroks of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,  Justice Edwin Cameron of the Constitutional Court in South Africa,  and Prof. Brian Citro of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
  
The launch of this Declaration marks a major milestone in recognizing the urgent need to adopt a human rights-based approach to TB and fund human rights-based interventions that overcome barriers to universal access to TB diagnosis, prevention, treatment, care and support services. 

The Declaration itself aims at empowering people affected by TB to know and claim their human rights. It is grounded in international human rights law, built upon States’ existing human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other legally binding treaties. It demands recognition and respect for these rights for people affected by TB, including the rights to life, health, privacy, liberty, and to be free from discrimination.
 
The Declaration is the culmination of efforts led by TBpeople, involving TB survivors and the broader TB community, together with human rights experts, supported by Stop TB Partnership and funded by USAID. The Declaration is owned by the global TB community, and its legitimacy is borne through this shared authorship. We must now support TB affected communities in claiming their rights and in operationalizing this Declaration at the grassroots level.