How can communities keep TB services running when funding shrinks and war disrupts care? And how do we prepare for the new TB vaccines that are coming?

In Ukraine, war hides TB behind damaged villages, displacement and broken health services. Our teams go out and find it. From 17 to 20 November, the Alliance for Public Health brings this frontline experience to the Union World Conference on Lung Health in Rio de Janeiro, in the scientific programme and in the Community Connect space.

Helping shape the conference

This year, APH is not only taking part in the conference but also helping shape it. Zahedul Islam, Director of Treatment, Procurement and Supply Management at APH, serves on the Conference Scientific Committee, which builds the conference programme. In Rio, he will chair four sessions on the questions that matter most for communities right now: how to keep TB services running when funding is cut, how communities monitor the quality of care, what happens to people after TB, and how to make sure new TB vaccines reach those who need them.

Where to find APH at the conference

All times are local to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (GMT−3)

Tuesday, 17 November
15:00–15:45 · CCC05 · “Beyond the Cuts: Community Leadership in a Changing Funding Landscape”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Oceania II)

Wednesday, 18 November
12:15–13:15 · MTE02 · “Sustaining a rigorous community-led monitoring model for TB under funding constraints”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Capri IV)
14:15–15:45 · OA18 · “Transforming TB detection through community action”, chaired by Evgenia Geliukh (Segovia I/II)
17:00–18:00 · CCS02 · “Life after TB: Connecting communities to post-TB care”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Oceania X)

Thursday, 19 November
11:00–11:45 · CCL04 · Community Connect Live: Vlada Rabinova presents “A postcard to the future: Getting communities ready for a new TB vaccine” (Oceania II)
17:01–17:15 · Zahedul Islam presents “Enhancing the TB care cascade via peer-led health mediation among the Roma minority in crisis-affected Ukraine” (Americas II)

Friday, 20 November
15:00–15:45 · CCS18 · “From science to access: Mobilising communities for new TB vaccines”, chaired by Zahedul Islam (Oceania X). Within the session, Evgenia Geliukh speaks on “Learning from other diseases: How communities shaped access to new medicines” (15:02–15:09).

We invite conference participants to join our sessions, visit the booth and discuss collaboration.

Download the APH roadmap.

Visit our booth in Community Connect

At our booth, “War Hides TB. We Find It: Ukraine’s Frontline Experience” (booth number CC2208), the APH team will share how TB can be found and treated even during war. Among displaced people, 21 times more TB cases were found than in 2021, not because TB is growing, but because we look for it, and 100% of them started treatment.

Tomorrow’s TB vaccines need today’s roads. At the booth, we will present the roads APH has built in Ukraine:

1. Frontline mobile clinics. Mobile teams bring TB screening and care to communities near the front line and to displaced people, where health facilities are damaged or hard to reach. The teams provide consultations, diagnostics and treatment for HIV, TB and other diseases, often in villages where they are the only health care left. At the booth, visitors can watch the story of Dmytro Korobenko, who coordinates APH’s mobile clinic teams, and Dr Yulia Tatianchenko, a physician on the team, featured by the Global Fund. Watch their story

2. Community care networks. Community organisations and peer workers help people get tested, start treatment and stay on it until they are cured. At the booth, visitors can pick up our publications and materials on this work.

3. AI screening and digital support. AI-supported screening helps find TB faster.
TWIIN, APH’s AI-powered digital social worker, helps people learn about HIV and TB, find testing and services, and get support online. TWIIN now also explains, in plain language, the new TB vaccines in development: how their safety is tested, what a Phase III trial means and when they might become available.

Before the conference, we asked our community what they want to know about TB and new vaccines but have not yet found a clear answer to, and what information, and from whom, would help them form their own opinion about a new TB vaccine. The answers help us see which explanations are missing and improve TWIIN together with the people who use it. Evgenia Geliukh will present the results in her talk on 20 November.

At the booth, visitors can add their own answer on a puzzle piece: what would you like to know about TB and new vaccines? Piece by piece, the answers will come together on our booth wall. Try TWIIN at twiin.aph.org.ua or download TWIIN APP. In 2026, the TWIIN website reached about 570,000 users, and around 90,000 people used its chat.

4. Funding that keeps these roads open. None of this works without reliable funding. The Global Fund provides 80% of all international financing for TB, and in 2025, 7.4 million people were treated for TB in countries where it invests. That is why APH also advocates for sustained Global Fund financing.

At the booth, we will present Together We Save Lives – The Global Fund: From Financial Contributions to Impact, a joint campaign by the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN), the Alliance for Public Health and Action against AIDS Germany (Aktionsbündnis gegen AIDS). The campaign was launched in Rio de Janeiro in July, at AIDS 2026. Now we are back in Rio, where the global TB community, partners and donors meet, to carry the campaign’s call to donor governments: deliver Global Fund commitments in full and on time. Because promises matter, but delivery saves lives.

Community advocates from around the world speak to political leaders about what global solidarity means, what political leadership looks like, and what it takes to keep lifesaving programmes stable. The third and final campaign video premieres on World AIDS Day, 1 December. Learn more about the campaign

Partner with us: come and talk to us about building the roads that bring TB care, and tomorrow’s vaccines, closer to the people who need them.

Want to go deeper? Explore our latest publications: