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TB People Vietnam was officially launched today, bringing together 22 community representatives from 10 provinces and cities. It is a community of people who have had or are living with tuberculosis, together with the communities and community groups affected by the disease, and it is the Vietnam chapter of the global TBpeople network – established in 2016 and now present in around 30 countries, with the vision of a world free of tuberculosis and the mission to unite people and defeat TB.

A mandate already on record

In 2022, the Community, Rights and Gender assessment on tuberculosis in Vietnam — commissioned by the National Tuberculosis Programme, funded by the Global Fund and technically supported by the Stop TB Partnership — recommended supporting a network of TB survivors so that they can help people with and presumed to have TB address stigma and discrimination. The same assessment found that the national strategic plan on TB does not yet include the role of communities. Closing that gap is what TB People Vietnam exists to do.

Led by people with lived experience

At the launch, participants adopted the group’s Operating Charter and confirmed the first Steering Committee of seven members: four people currently on TB treatment or who have had TB, and three representatives of community groups affected by TB. Self-representation is the founding principle of TB People worldwide: when the group speaks about the experience of people affected by TB, they must be the ones leading. Alongside that principle sits a commitment written into the Charter — no member is required to disclose their TB status.

The plan ahead

The Steering Committee has set out a work plan running from October 2026 to December 2027, along four main lines: working with SCDI to bring the OneImpact application to communities, so that the barriers people affected by TB encounter can be collected and reported; advocating for community voice to have a place in TB policy mechanisms at national and provincial level; strengthening the capacity of members and of the Steering Committee; and expanding the group into more provinces. The group is new and much will be learned by doing — but with the commitment of its Steering Committee and members, it believes it can contribute meaningfully to the TB response in Vietnam.

SCDI’s accompanying role

The Center for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI) accompanies the group in this first phase, providing technical and logistical support and acting as secretariat — most concretely, in the year ahead, through the joint rollout of OneImpact. Under the Operating Charter, SCDI does not vote, does not nominate members of the Steering Committee, and does not decide the group’s direction.

An invitation to work together

TB People Vietnam looks forward to working alongside the National Tuberculosis Programme, health authorities at every level, and national and international partners, so that the voices and real experiences of people affected by TB are taken into account in the decisions that concern them — and so that together we move closer to ending tuberculosis in Vietnam.

Contact:  Tbpeoplevietnam@gmail.com