Rise Up Now 4 TB

Run4TB

Overview

Rise Up Now 4 TB (Run4TB) was a multi-year WACI Health campaign, running across several years including 2021, 2023, and 2024, that called on national and regional leaders to deliver on the commitments made at the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on TB. Each year, the campaign mobilised civil society and TB-affected communities around World TB Day and other key moments in the global TB calendar, pressing governments, particularly South Africa's, to treat TB as a national emergency and to follow through on political commitments with funding, policy, and accountability.

Run4TB was anchored in South Africa through WACI Health's role on the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Civil Society Forum (CSF) TB Task Team, where WACI Health led the TB High-Level Meeting process for task team members, including convening monthly and special meetings, drafting the annual World TB Day letter to Heads of State and Ministers of Health, and producing communiques used as advocacy tools at UN-level hearings. The campaign also extended regionally, with WACI Health engaging the African Union, Pan-African Parliament, and civil society coalitions across multiple African countries.

The campaign mattered because, despite TB being preventable and curable, roughly 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis annually and around 1.5 million people died from it each year, making it the world's leading infectious killer. Run4TB was recognised and supported through the Stop TB Partnership's Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS) grant mechanism (Round 11).

The campaign mattered because, despite TB being preventable and curable, roughly 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis annually and around 1.5 million people died from it each year, making it the world's leading infectious killer.

Run4TB

Objectives

01 Sustain, broaden, and increase political support for UNHLM TB targets and commitments in South Africa and states where South Africa held influence (the African Union, the G20, BRICS).
02 Increase political support for investment in community, rights, and gender considerations in TB programming in South Africa.
03 Elevate the participation and engagement of TB-affected communities in TB planning, advocacy, and accountability.
04 Engage civil society and communities directly with political leaders and key decision-makers around the TB High-Level Meeting process.
05 Advance TB education among youth, including through digitalised, accessible formats.

A World TB Day commemoration, with speakers on stage beneath a World TB Day banner

Run4TB

What We Do

Civil society leadership on TB Task Team. As a member of the SANAC CSF TB Task Team, WACI Health led the TB HLM process for task team members, running monthly and special meetings, and authoring the annual World TB Day letter reminding Heads of State and Ministers of Health of 2018 HLM commitments. WACI Health also developed a communique synthesising outcomes across the TB, UHC, and Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention and Response (PPPR) High-Level Meetings, used as an advocacy tool at UN multi-stakeholder hearings in New York.

World TB Day mobilisation. Each year around 24 March, Run4TB coordinated campaign mobilisations across the continent. In South Africa, activities included marches to the Department of Health, TB symposiums, and supporting the Deputy President’s 2023 launch of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV, TB, and STIs 2023–2028. Regionally, the campaign supported high-level commemorations in Kenya (Murang'a County, 2024) alongside the Health Ministry, Global Fund, USAID, and WHO, as well as in The Gambia with the African Union Commission and Africa CDC. In 2021, Run4TB supported grassroots activations across Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Ethiopia, and Nigeria through survivor-led runs, policy conferences, and awareness walks with national leaders.

Engagement with political leaders and decision-makers. WACI Health took part in the UN HLM Hearings (8–10 May 2023) and joint outreach to 49 UN Member State Permanent Missions, leading outreach specifically to the African Union, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. It addressed the Pan-African Parliament's Committee on Health, Labour, and Social Affairs on the intersection of the TB, UHC, and PPPR high-level meetings and the role of traditional medicine in the TB response. Working with TB Proof, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and TBHIV Care, WACI Health helped finalise civil society's "key asks" letter to South Africa's Minister of Health ahead of the TB HLM, and presented these asks directly to the MoH and Deputy President's office. WACI Health also co-convened the One Africa TB Summit with the Africa Coalition on Tuberculosis (ACT), Stop TB Partnership, Africa Constituency Bureau, WHO, Global Fund, and USAID, bringing together over 40 delegates from across the region to update the 2018 Common African Position on TB and set regional advocacy priorities. WACI Health then participated in the TB Political Declaration launch at the UN HLM in September 2023, and hosted a post-HLM webinar for affected communities and CSOs to unpack outcomes across the three HLMs.

Youth-focused TB education (Decode TB). Run4TB included Decode TB, a strand engaging young leaders in TB decision-making through dialogue and workshops. In South Africa, WACI Health partnered with Impact Drivers (youth TB advocates within GFAN Africa) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in Rustenburg to engage youth in North West province ahead of World TB Day 2023. This led to a formal MOU to digitalise TB education content for youth, with production of a TB education video series launched in July 2023.