March 2021 Newsletter

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Dear Colleagues,

This month, we crossed the one year anniversary of lockdowns and COVID-19 upending our lives. While we are determined to build back better, the set-back to health goals cannot be underestimated.

The ACTION partnership continued its work to achieve health equity, poverty reduction, and amplifying civil society voices globally. We continue to engage with local and global coalition efforts to build momentum for the Nutrition for Growth Year of Action, TB advocacy, World Bank’s COVID-19 response, Global Fund strategy, and other efforts to ensure adequate resources are allocated and utilized equitably. We celebrated International Development Week and Canadian contributions to poverty reduction and international humanitarian assistance.

ACTION partners are advocating to mobilize resources for the pillars of access to COVID-19 tools accelerator (ACT-A), particularly COVAX, to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are distributed as widely and affordably as possible across nations — while also protecting immunization and polio-related programs.

Please join ACTION’s various activities around World TB Day on March 24, 2021, including the following events:

April brings World Immunization Week, and ACTION is co-hosting a webinar, “Working Towards Vaccine Equity in Immunization Agenda 2030,” on April 15 at 3pm CET.

We hope you will join us in our advocacy and events.

Looking forward,

Vineeta Gupta, MD, JD, LL.M
Director, ACTION Secretariat

Deadly Duo

TB and COVID-19

“We wish to make 2021 the year of tuberculosis,” said Indian Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, at a recent high-level meeting that included government officials and representatives from the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and USAID.

The need to prioritize TB services during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overemphasized, and ACTION partners are doing some amazing work to make sure TB is not forgotten. More.

Advocacy Updates

Check out WACI Health, GFAN, and StopAIDS UK’s Platform for Community and Civil Society Representatives to the ACT-A. The platform aims to convene and support civil society and community representatives in ACT-A; facilitate broader global collaboration; and provide a space for information sharing, consultation, and cohesive action and advocacy.

KANCO hosted a high-level meeting in Kenya on the Global Financing Facility (GFF) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) to discuss the issues that adolescent girls and boys and youth are experiencing due to COVID-19 and lock-downs.

RESULTS UK launched a new policy brief taking a rights-based approach to nutrition advocacy, aiming to influence national governments and the international community to take steps to tackle the impacts of COVID-19 on malnutrition.

RESULTS Japan worked with the Ministry of Finance to push the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to strengthen their commitment to health. The ADB has approved a US$2 million technical assistance (TA) grant — made possible by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction financed by the Government of Japan — to help select developing members prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 by expanding and integrating water, sanitation, hygiene, and health (WASH+H) approaches into ADB’s projects.

GHA France’s Laurianne Desquesses talks to Gloria Musinde of the initiative Les Afriques Vous Parlent about why they’re engaging in Forum Génération Égalité (in French).

Spotlight

Meet Our Partner: ASAPSU

“It is important to acknowledge that the health crisis has exposed the fragility of our health system regarding the mobilization of internal resources to face major pandemics,” said Koné Solange, co-founder and acting advocacy and policy director of ASAPSU. More.

Meet our team member: Rahab Mwaniki

“My inspiration to engage in public health was drawn from continuous volunteering at the community level since an early ago. While growing up in the rural areas of eastern region in Kenya, community health workers would move from home to home doing health promotion on WASH and giving polio vaccines and I thought this was great!”

News

The WHO has issued a call to all countries to accelerate vaccine equity for all health workers with their “Vaccine Equity Declaration.”

The US$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act signed into law last week included $11.3 billion for COViD-19 pandemic response, of which $3.5 billion will go to the Global Fund and $800 million to Food for Peace.

In its 2020 supplemental and 2021 annual budgets, the Government of Japan committed ¥54.52 billion in pledges to the Global Fund, Gavi, GHIT, UNITAID, WFP, and CEPI despite the COVID crisis and increasing ODA from ¥561 billion in 2020 to ¥568 billion in 2021. On Feb 9, Japan announced a further US$70 million commitment to COVAX, increasing its contribution to a total of $200 million.

Resources and Blogs

Cutting child poverty in half, by Joanne Carter about the COVID relief bill

Progress towards ending TB at risk, by Suman Majumdar and Mark Rice

Nutrition is a human right, by Mathilde Chiesa. See also the report.

Nutrition – The Key to Covid Recovery, a new report by GHA France and Generation Nutrition

The Economic Case for Global Vaccinations, a new study commissioned by WHO

Events and Opportunities

We’re hiring at the ACTION Secretariat! Check out ACTION’s job board to see our open full-time and consultant positions.

March 22–April 2: Virtual Civil Society Policy Forum. More.

April 5–11: 2021 World Bank Spring Meetings; registration is open until March 22. More.

April 15 at 3pm CET: “Working Towards Vaccine Equity in IA2030” (Immunization Agenda 2030) webinar hosted by the Gavi CSO constituency in partnership with ACTION, Save the Children, Gavi, and RESULTS UK. More.

April 24-30: World Immunization Week. More.

June 12–13: RESULTS International Conference (virtual). Registration is open!

ACTION World TB Day Events

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day, and there are numerous events planned around the world. Here is what ACTION has in store for you:

ACTION partners are working with communities around the world to light up the night sky as part of Stop TB’s the “#LightupforTB” campaign. Results Australia and Results Canada have secured several locations in their respective countries; in Canada, they’re lighting up Niagara Falls. More.

Results Australia is leading a Parliamentary event on March 24 with TB Alliance and IAVI. Peter Sands (Global Fund) and Nick Herbert MP (Global TB Caucus) will speak on the impact of COVID-19 on TB.

RESULTS UK will host a Parliamentary event on March 23 (open to the public). More.

RESULTS in the U.S. is working with other CSOs to hold Hill briefings on COVID and TB and ending TB and a lobby day to educate Congressional staff and build bipartisan support for ending TB.

Results Canada is hosting a high-level webinar on March 23 with Partners in Health and Stop TB Canada. More.

WACI Health and CITAM+ will participate in the “Run for TB” campaign in 10 countries, including Zambia.