Guidance on social protection for people affected by tuberculosis

Book excerpt: Social protection, a component of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s End TB strategy, has been upheld by Member States as an essential part of the response to tuberculosis in several political declarations, including the 2017 Moscow Declaration to End TB, and both the political declarations of both the 2018 and 2023 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level meetings on the fight against TB. Furthermore, during the 2023 high-level meeting, member states agreed on a new target to ensure that all people with TB have access to a comprehensive package of health and social benefits by 2027. In this context, the Guidance on social protection for people affected by tuberculosis jointly developed by WHO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) will enable all key stakeholders in the provision of TB and social protection services to plan and implement coverage of social protection programmes for people affected by TB. Implementation of this guidance will require active engagement and coordination across different sectors. As such social protection is a clear of investment for the establishment of a multisectoral accountability framework to accelerate progress towards the end of TB (MAF-TB) as part of the multisectoral response towards ending TB.