Compendium of WHO guidelines and associated standards: ensuring optimum delivery of the cascade of care for patients with tuberculosis. Second edition; 2018 (Sólo inglés)

Foreword

Tuberculosis (TB) is the single leading infectious cause of mortality. Ending the TB epidemic is one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that requires intensive action by all countries, especially those with a high TB burden. The World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy encompasses a package of interventions organized around the three pillars of integrated patient-centered care and prevention, bold policies and supportive systems and intensified research and innovation that should be adapted at country level. The End TB strategy requires the implementation of a combination of biomedical, public health and socioeconomic activities to accelerate the decline in global TB incidence and mortality rates while addressing all of the determinants of the TB epidemic with high-level commitment and a multisectoral approach.

The Global Ministerial Conference in Moscow in November 2017 created a new wave of hope for tackling several of the major hurdles hampering progress in the response to TB. The Moscow Declaration to End TB set out the commitments by Member States, and calls for specific actions by WHO and by partners, including civil society, at global and country level. These actions include ensuring sufficient and sustainable financing, pursuing science, research and innovation while recognizing that acceleration of progress toward the goal of ending TB requires action across the health sector and beyond. The Moscow Declaration also called for the development of a multisectoral accountability framework for TB that can be used to galvanize and sustain political commitment and action on TB at both global and national levels.

The global TB response is on the brink of a new era and the Moscow Declaration has helped to pave the way for the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on TB to be held in New York in September 2018. The UNGA High Level Meeting represents a unique opportunity to raise the profile of TB and secure the political commitment at the level of Heads of State to catalyze change towards reinvigorated and transformative TB efforts.

The Compendium of WHO TB guidelines and associated standards has been updated as a necessary guide to facilitate access to quality-assured diagnosis, treatment and care for all persons affected by TB.

Dr Tereza Kasaeva Global TB Programme