Technical consultation on latent TB infection management: Research for scale-up and target regimen profiles
19 September 2019 | Montreal – The World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Programme and the WHO Collaborating Centre in TB Research at McGill University, Montreal, Canada convened a two-day technical consultation on research on latent TB infection (LTBI). Around 40 participants attended the meeting representing the TB research community, national TB programmes, civil society, technical and implementation partners, and donor agencies.
The first day of the meeting focused on research needs to
overcome key barriers and knowledge gaps affecting the scale-up
of TB preventive treatment. Experts reviewed recent advances in
diagnosis and treatment of LTBI and shared implementation
experience generated over the past 5 years. A revised priority
list of research topics was discussed, covering diagnosis,
treatment and implementation research.
"If we are to achieve the UN high-level meeting target of
reaching at least 30 million people with TB preventive treatment
between 2018 and 2022, new tools to diagnose LTBI and new
shorter treatment regimens should be rapidly made available to
national TB programmes. Operational research is crucial to
capitalize on available tools to accelerate uptake of TB
preventive treatment," said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the
WHO Global TB Programme.
On the second day, an outline for the development of Target
Regimen Profiles for TB preventive treatment was presented and
discussed. The document, which will be finalized in the first
half of 2020, will inform product developers, regulatory
agencies, procurement agencies and funders on research and
development, and public health priorities to scale-up TB
preventive treatment. This is intended to facilitate the
expeditious development of new LTBI regimens while ensuring
access, equity and affordability of new products.
"Scaling up latent TB treatment is a major challenge in almost
all low and middle-income countries due to lack of adequate
resources, excessive demand on health lack of access to current
diagnostic tools, and almost no access to any of the newer,
shorter, and safer latent TB treatment regimens. Research to
improve diagnosis and treatment of latent TB is needed, as is
research to improve the Latent TB Cascade of Care - at all steps
from initial access to TB preventive care through diagnosis to
completion of an adequate course of treatment",said Dr
Dick Menzies from the WHO collaborating centre at McGill
University.
Source:
World Health Organization
