After a year of uncertainty over funding, the Global Coalition of TB Activists (GCTA) is gratified at the findings of the Global Fund’s Office of the Inspector General that the former ED of ICSS was singularly responsible for embezzlement of funds from ICSS, GCTA, and the Communities Delegation of the Global Fund.

GCTA acknowledges the report’s findings and thanks the OIG for the thorough investigation. Throughout this the work of GCTA continued with support from partners and we thank you for your trust and confidence.

According to GCTA CEO Blessi Kumar:
It is regrettable that this all happened in the first place – but we are glad that the truth has prevailed and that we can move away from the turmoil that this has drawn us into. We look forward to continuing to work on centring the experience of TB communities in global health policy, including on all-oral regimens, on human rights protection of TB communities, and for more robust social protection measures for persons affected by TB.

We continue to focus on the mobilisation of resources to enable strong governance mechanisms and financial accountability. As such, we have relaunched our resource mobilisation approach with a new Strategic Plan and Investment Case. These resources and a strengthened governance approach will help us serve TB Communities globally with integrity and commitment.

The Global Coalition of TB Activists (GCTA) is a global platform that bridges the gap between civil society organizations and other stakeholders in the tuberculosis (TB) response, including the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid, and other global health agencies, ensuring that communities are involved in all TB processes. Its primary mission is to ensure that the communities affected by TB are at the centre of all advocacy efforts, and to champion issues identified as a priority by communities affected by TB. Since its inception in March 2013, GCTA has contributed to the global TB agenda through, inter alia, activism for the price reduction of TB technologies, including GeneXpert cartridges, the TB drugs bedaquiline and delamanid; capacity building of TB communities; data collection on community perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on the TB epidemic; and the publication of a report with 20 recommendations towards activating a human rights response to TB. Most recently, building on the knowledge and experiences of TB activists working in four regions through virtual workshops, GCTA produced a report documenting learnings and challenges of communities working on TB stigma, discrimination, and human rights, finding that numerous challenges exist to the registration of all-oral TB regimens, that human rights education in TB is occurring too late, and there is insufficient financial support for legal interventions.

Reference : www.theglobalfund.org

GCTA Investment Case