2009

This publication by TAG and the International Community of Women Living with HIV–Eastern Africa (ICW) provides activists, policy makers, and donors with lessons learned from two years of capacity building for HIV treatment activists to integrate tuberculosis (TB) and TB/HIV collaborative activities into their advocacy work. The TAG-ICW capacity building model can be used by program implementers, funders, and policy makers to help implement the component of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2006 TB control strategy that identifies the need to empower TB patients and their communities. Despite its rich history of community mobilization and activism over the past century, in recent decades, broad-based community advocacy for TB care and control efforts have become increasingly rare.

TAG and ICW developed this model from our experience building the capacity of Africa-based HIV activists to take on TB advocacy. We strongly believe that the components of the model can be applicable to strengthen TB advocacy globally. Besides describing the TAG-ICW activist capacity-building strategies, this document also contains case studies which highlight what activists have accomplished through their TB/HIV advocacy efforts in the brief time since TAG-ICW initiated our TB/HIV advocacy capacity-building efforts in September 2007.