Urgent Call for Transparency and Immediate Action on the TB Crisis in Ecuadorian Prisons

25 March 2025

Advocates demand that the Ecuadorian authorities immediately implement emergency TB interventions in Ecuador’s prison system.

On 25 March 2025, Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) and the Global Tuberculosis Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) sent an open letter to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health expressing grave concern over the uncontrolled TB outbreak in Ecuador’s prison system, and demanding that the Ecuadorian Government and the Ministry of Public Health take immediate action to prevent further harm with five urgent requests listed.

“The incidence of TB in prison is approximately 123 times higher than in the general population of Ecuador… Prison conditions in Ecuador — including overcrowding, restricted access to basic services like water and electricity, malnutrition, lack of medical attention for TB symptoms, and limited access to essential medications for illnesses such as HIV and TB — have turned the situation into an urgent public health and human rights crisis… Failure to act will lead to preventable deaths and further human rights violations. We urge the Ecuadorian Government and the Ministry of Public Health to take immediate action to prevent further harm.”

Download the open letter here:

• in English
• in Spanish