“Over the course of our history as a donor country, Canada has always shown that the best way to attack a disease is from all sides, recognizing that there are a number of mechanisms that need to contribute to the overall process to achieve success,” Meaghan Derynck, a project officer with RESULTS Canada, writes in an Ottawa Citizen opinion piece, providing details about some of the country’s pledges to fight tuberculosis (TB). “Canada continues to be a principal donor and global leader” for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Stop TB Partnership, she states, noting the Global Fund is in a replenishment period and the initial funding period of Stop TB’s TB REACH program is set to expire in 2014. “Both the Global Fund and the Stop TB Partnership have proven themselves over time to be cost-effective, transparent, and truly country-driven mechanisms in the ongoing fight against tuberculosis, and one cannot work without the other,” Derynck writes.

“This week Ottawa has had the honor of hosting ministers, dignitaries and passionate TB advocates from around the world for the Stop TB Partnership’s Coordinating Board Meeting, held in Canada for the very first time,” Derynck notes. She concludes, “Now is a perfect opportunity to appeal to other donor countries to follow in Canada’s footsteps, and also for Canada to lead by example. If we can combine our efforts and maintain these variable channels of support, we can work together to eradicate this devastating disease once and for all” (7/12).