As Dennis Francis, president of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, wrapped up his speech on Friday, he looked at the crowd sitting at the back of the room and pointed at them.
“Together, up at the top, we can end TB,” he said, joining the chanting crowd of civil society at the U.N. high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis.
The meeting was the last of the three high-level meetings focused on health held during UNGA last week. Similar to the others, it ended with mixed reactions as advocates warned that the political declaration lacked or did not fully reflect some key asks from the TB community such as monitoring national strategic plans. In addition, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew were the only heads of state that attended the meeting.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
