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On 30 October, members of the APPG on Global TB met with Hon Dr Christopher Kalila MP, a visiting parliamentarian from Zambia.
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Dr Kalila spent two days in Westminster meeting with UK counterparts to discuss the recent UN High-Level Meeting on TB and how countries like the UK and Zambia could work together to realise the ambitions of its political declaration.
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Dr Kalila is a former medical doctor and Chair of the Health Select Committee of the Zambian National Assembly. He now also chairs the National TB Caucus, the APPG’s equivalent in Zambia, which launched in March 2018.
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Speaking of the TB situation in Zambia, Dr Kalila highlighted the impact of UK investments in both the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria and in TB research. He noted, however, that with some 40% of all people with TB still being missed by the health system in Zambia, much more work needed to be done to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target of ending TB by 2030.
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Dr Kalila travelled to London following the Global TB Caucus’ 3rd Global Summit, which took place in The Hague the previous week. During the summit, parliamentarians from across the world met to discuss the network’s next steps, agreeing a new ‘Statement of Intent’ for their joint work moving forward. To find out more about the summit, click here.
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During the meeting with the APPG, the parliamentarians discussed the importance of holding governments accountable for delivering on the UN High-Level Meeting political declaration, both domestically and through intergovernmental platforms such as the Commonwealth and G20. With the Zambian National TB Caucus having only recently been founded, Members agreed to an informal ‘pairing’ with the APPG to facilitate knowledge sharing and joint planning.
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