Political commitment is required to support the implementation of the Stop TB Strategy. It is essential for ensuring that high quality TB care services are available, sustainable and accessible to all TB patients.
Political commitment to Stop TB requires national and international partnershipsTo achieve and maintain the required level of political commitment, strong and active partnership among key stakeholders at country and regional levels is needed.
This commitment should be linked to long-term strategic planning of national TB control programmes to address technical and financial requirements, and promote accountability for results at all levels of the health system.
The required political commitment at national level is in place when:
the government considers TB to be a priority for the health system, according to the national TB burden;
TB management is included within health policy, with sufficient budget allocatation and a suitable structure within the ministry of health assigned responsibility for implementation of the Stop TB Strategy;
national TB control programmes have developed policy for TB management (including MDR/XDR-TB), based on the Stop TB Strategy tailored to country needs, including guidelines and a long-term (3–5 years) strategic plan to Stop TB, with annual workplans.
These tools, in addition to strong TB surveillance, are key to sustaining political commitment and enabling proper planning to meet the challenges and attract the attention and support of donors and other partners.
The role of the regional Stop TB programme is to:
support countries to develop sound TB management policies and guidelines in line with the WHO-recommended Stop TB Strategy;
support countries to develop/update their long term national strategic plans and annual workplans in light of their TB burden and national TB control programme performance;
support the establishment of national Stop TB partnerships and promote regional partnerships to address challenges in TB control and coordinate efforts and resources.