The WHO Regional Office of the Western Pacific Region organised a ‘Joint TB and HIV programme managers meeting' to bring together key stakeholders to accelerate action to end the dual epidemics of TB and HIV in the region. 

To help tuberculosis (TB) patients keep to their gruelling treatment regimens, WHO recommends that the intake of medicines is observed, in person, by a health-care worker, to support the patient in taking the medication regularly. However, ensuring daily face-to-face contact at a health facility can be challenging for both patients and health service providers. Digital technologies, such as video-observed treatment (VOT) can help meet this challenge.

21 March 2019 | Geneva:The World Health Organization (WHO) has produced a draft Global Strategy for Tuberculosis (TB) Research and Innovation (Global Strategy) for consideration by the World Health Assembly (WHA) at its 73^rd session. The draft Global Strategy is now available online for comment.

In 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) will be developing a Framework for Action on TB and Comorbidities within the context of universal health coverage. Comorbidities addressed will include diabetes, mental illness, harmful use of drugs and alcohol, undernutrition, chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer.

The World Health Organization has just issued updated WHO guidelines on TB infection prevention and control. These guidelines outline a new evidence-based framework that promotes the implementation of an integrated package of Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) interventions based on administrative, engineering, and respiratory protection controls. This will contribute to cutting transmission and reducing the burden of TB illness and death to reach the global targets of the End TB Strategy and the political declaration of the UN High Level meeting on TB.

The WHO Global TB Program has developed and is supporting country implementation of a new digital platform to store, analyze and visualize national and subnational TB surveillance data. The platform will facilitate timely planning and programmatic action.

WHO issues new guidance to improve treatment of multidrug-resistant TB.

WHO has facilitated the creation of a new expert group on drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) to support Member States in improving their research on treatment. The areas of focus of the group, part of the WHO European Tuberculosis Research Initiative (ERI-TB), were agreed at a planning meeting in Vienna, Austria, on 22 February 2019.

Every hour 30 people are diagnosed with TB in the European Region. It’s time to make TB a disease of the past.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) revamped Civil Society Task Force on TB (CSTF) held its first meeting on 7-8 March to identify key priorities for the period 2019-2020.