Why Gender Transformative Leadership is Key to Ending TB – for Good

A woman with tuberculosis in Pakistan went undiagnosed for five years because she could not afford the $2 transportation cost from her village to the Civil Hospital in Tharparkar. Credit: OCHA/Zinnia Bukhari   Each year, the UN commemorates World TB Day—March 24-- to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease. By Nyuma Mbewe and Swati KrishnaLUSAKA / PUNE, Mar 22 2023 (IPS) Despite being both curable and preventable, the TB pandemic is a global health crisis and a leading cause of death worldwide. COVID-19 brought into sharp focus how women bear the brunt of pandemics. In 2021, over three million women and girls fell ill with TB, resulting in 450,000 needless deaths. As women leaders in global health, on this 2023 World TB Day, we believe that systematic and sustained investment to tackle gender-related barriers is essential to get the world back on course and end TB by 2030. We must confront the root causes of gender inequality and reshape the power dynamics across health systems, promoting the voice of women in their own care, to reach our global goals, for a safer, healthier world for all. To better understand how gender norms and inequalities increase the burden, stigma ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa COVID-19 Development & Aid Featured Headlines Health Inequity Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news