06 November 2015 - WHO has approved the use of two alternative line probe assays (LPAs), with the capability to detect TB and rifampicin resistance. This follows the 2008 recommendation by WHO on the use of LPAs for the rapid detection of rifampicin resistance. At that time, the evidence assessed was for the LPA technology, Hain Version 1 assay.

A new Global Action Framework for TB Research will foster high-quality national and global TB research needed to end the TB epidemic. A new Research for TB Elimination team, set up in the WHO Global TB Programme, will facilitate the implementation of this new framework and support the promotion of TB research both at global and country levels.

16 November 2015 ¦ GENEVA - As WHO ramps up its fight against antibiotic resistance, a new multi-country survey shows people are confused about this major threat to public health and do not understand how to prevent it from growing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released a consensus document after a meeting on the essential elements for monitoring the safety of anti-TB drugs (aDSM) in Geneva in July 2015.

The report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in implementing and financing TB prevention, care, control and research at global, regional and country levels. With 1.5 million people killed by TB in 2014, the disease ranks alongside HIV as a leading killer worldwide. 

The Checklist focuses on primary and secondary health-care facilitie and is a tool for protecting spread of TB to patients and health-care workers. The Checklist will be included in the WHO Consolidated Guidelines on the use of Antiretroviral Drugs for Treating and Preventing HIV Infection.

New WHO Model List of Essential Medicines published; After about 45 years of scarce innovation for TB medicines, 5 new products are included in the List. Four of these, including bedaquiline and delamanid, target multidrug-resistant TB.

This survey is the first to capture governments’ own assessments of their response to resistance to antimicrobial medicines used to treat conditions such as bloodstream infections, pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem in many of the world’s prisons: infection rates can be more than 10 times higher than in the general population. Frequently overcrowded and poorly ventilated, many prisons lack early detection and sound treatment programmes to combat the disease – even though many prisoners come from population groups that are already at high risk of TB infection and disease, such as people who inject drugs or are homeless.

As countries mark World Tuberculosis Day on March 24, WHO is calling for “global solidarity and action” to support a new 20-year strategy, which aims to end the global tuberculosis epidemic.