A new research report from ACTION shows that while countries have taken steps in the right direction since 2014 to combat the deadly duo of TB and HIV, policy improvements have not all translated into changes at the facility level. Moreover, the burden to carry out TB-HIV activities still falls heavily on under-resourced TB programs.
The report, From Policy to Practice: How the TB-HIV Response is Working, builds on ACTION’s previous research in the 2014 report, From Rhetoric to Reality, which investigated whether the World Health Organization’s recommendations for TB-HIV collaborative activities had been translated into commitments at global and national levels. The report was launched at the 2016 International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.
Main findings include:
- The burden to support key TB-HIV activities still falls heavily on under-resourced TB programs.
- Lack of appropriate tools undermines the TB-HIV response.
- Policy improvements have not all been translated into changes at the facility level.
- To achieve an effective TB-HIV response, more investment in human resources is needed.
- Donor assistance does not fill all of identified gaps in TB-HIV collaborative activities.
While challenges remain, the report highlights the need for the HIV and TB communities to join forces and finally give this deadly issue the attention it deserves. The report includes specific recommendations for high TB-HIV burden countries, for donors (the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, UK DfID, U.S. PEPFAR, and the World Bank), and for advocates regarding how they should fight the dual epidemics of TB and HIV.