UK advocacy and drug access news

Hello TBFighters,

Today we are sharing advocacy actions from Results UK, as well as some updates on the fight for PrEP (HIV/AIDS prevention medicine) access! We hope you will join us in these actions and our exciting months ahead.

Results UK are asking people to write to their MP in what is a critical time for the UK in the fight against TB, both domestically and internationally.

You can ask your MP to take action by:

• Sharing the recommendations of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tuberculosis - you can find the recommendations on the red pages throughout the report.

• Asking them to engage with health ministers about the findings from the report, and the renewal of the National TB Action Plan which will decide how the UK deals with domestic TB, at every stage of the process, for the next five years.

• Asking them to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global TB, which increases cross-party collaboration and strengthens the ability of the UK government to advocate for more equitable care for people affected by TB around the world.

You can use this helpful letter writing guide from Results UK to easily write an effective letter, and then either post or email it to your MP. We can make a difference here, by showing that as constituents we care about TB and are watching how the government deals with it. Let’s make sure the importance of TB is heard - happy letter writing!

You can also catch their webinar with Dr Jessica Potter, Chair of UK Academics and Professionals to End TB, about the rise in domestic cases and how we can tackle it, on Tuesday 2nd June, 8-9pm BST. Join this Zoom meeting with the password “2026”.

We are also supporting the ask from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for the pharmaceutical company Gilead to increase access to HIV prevention drugs. The fights against HIV/AIDS and TB are inextricably linked; TB is the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, and people with HIV are 20 times more likely to develop active TB than those not living with HIV. Successes in fighting both diseases are due to progress on both fronts.

Gilead is getting in the way by refusing to sell injectable PrEP (Lenacapvir/Yeztugo) to MSF for use in middle-income countries, where HIV rates are on the rise. MSF isn’t asking for a donation - they want to pay! After months of negotiations between MSF and Gilead, and pressure on shareholders, Gilead still refuses to sell or give straight answers as to why they won’t sell.

If you’re getting this newsletter, you’re on the list to get updates about actions towards Gilead that are coming soon. In the meantime, spread the word by sharing MSF’s open letters to Gilead and shareholders and by joining us on Discord to brainstorm as we get ready.

dfTBa,
TBFighters