Over 120 participants from countries, partners and civil society came together for the first time in-person since the pandemic, at the Global Meeting of the Working Group on Public-Private Mix (PPM) for TB prevention and care.
The meeting, held on 2-4 November in Nairobi, Kenya was convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Stop TB Partnership with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Fund. The meeting was opened by Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme and Dr Madhukar Pai, Chair of the Stop TB PPM Working Group and Associate Director of the McGill International TB Centre. TB survivor and advocate – Caroline Mburu – shared her personal journey combating TB, and called for the engagement of all care providers to ensure access to quality care wherever a person chooses to access it, in the public or private sector.
“The Global PPM Working Group Meeting is an important platform to share experiences and innovations, especially now as we are working hard to build back stronger after the pandemic,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “The Global PPM Working Group Meeting, put the spotlight on the core issues around strengthening PPM monitoring to enhance accountability, integrating PPM into the broader universal health coverage agenda, enabling meaningful engagement of civil society in PPM efforts, and increasing advocacy for PPM prioritization in the lead up to the 2023 UN High Level Meeting on TB.”
Dr Madhukar Pai, Chair of the Stop TB PPM Working Group added, “Because TB incidence and mortality has increased during the pandemic, we need to work much harder to get back on track. Private provider engagement is a smart and cost-effective strategy for finding the people who have been missed, and ensuring they get quality TB services, wherever they seek care. The private sector in many countries has shown resiliency during the pandemic, and has the capacity to contribute a lot, if engaged at scale. The PPM Working Group Meeting in Nairobi revealed a plethora of PPM models that are being tried out, and it was wonderful to see the innovative approaches being used in high burden countries.”
Key speakers and participants at the meeting:
- Reviewed global, regional and national progress in prioritizing PPM to close gaps in access to prevention and care services including through the roll-out of the PPM roadmap.
