MKUTA receives award for Community Leadership and Mobilization from the Stop TB Partnership.

On the 23^rd of October 2018, the Stop TB Partnership organized an event to present the 2018 Kochon Prize in The Hague, The Netherlands. The 2018 Kochon Prize was awarded to the Minister of Health of South Africa Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi and to the Global TB Caucus for outstanding political leadership to end TB.

Tanzania was also in the spotlight: to acknowledge and celebrate the work of exceptional community work, the Stop TB Partnership together with Dr. Beatrice Mutayoba, Programme Manager of the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme, and Honorable Oscar Mukasa, Chair of the National TB Caucus Tanzania, awarded the prize for Community Leadership and Mobilization to Mr Mualidi Ntahondi Nyamlenganwa, the leader of the patient support group MKUTA.

Over 200 TB-leaders attended the event who shared their views on the importance of bold leadership across all disciplines to ensure delivery on the United Nations Political Declaration on TB adopted at the recent High-Level Meeting on TB in New York.

The Stop TB Partnership is a unique international body that aligns actors all over the world in the vision of a TB-free world. Every year since 2006, the $65,000 Kochon Prize is awarded by the Stop TB Partnership recognizing outstanding achievements in the fight against tuberculosis. A disease that is curable, but still causes over 4000 deaths every day. 

MKUTA is a Tanzanian organization made up of TB survivors, whose main goal is to increase the number of TB and HIV patients that get on treatment and encourage them to successfully finish their treatment course. MKUTA also plays a key role in advocacy, educating the general public and reaching out to vulnerable communities. APOPO is proud of partner MKUTA for its devoted work in TB and commends them on earning this honorary award.