WHO recommends new tuberculosis test
Geneva, 11 August 2016 – The World Health Organization has issued a recommendation for a rapid and robust test to diagnose pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in peripheral health centres. The test, known as TB-LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification), requires minimal laboratory infrastructure and has been evaluated as an alternative to sputum smear microscopy, still the most widespread test in use in resource-limited settings.
New survey investigates levels of resistance to essential TB drugs
The first ever multi-country population-based survey investigating levels of the resistance to essential tuberculosis (TB) drugs was published last week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. This work was led by the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with National TB Programmes, National TB Reference Laboratories and Supranational Reference Laboratories.
WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for TB meets in Geneva
Geneva, 15 June 2016 - The 16th meeting of WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Tuberculosis (STAG-TB) opened on 13 June 2016 with the appointment of its new Chair, Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar, Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University College London, by WHO’s Director-General. STAG-TB, which is made up of 23 members, advises WHO’s Global TB Programme on all its core functions in the TB response.
Rapid diagnostic test and shorter, cheaper treatment signal new hope for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients
Geneva, 16 May 2016 - New WHO recommendations aim to speed up detection and improve treatment outcomes for multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) through use of a novel rapid diagnostic test and a shorter, cheaper treatment regimen.
- Policy guidance on the shorter MDR-TB regimen
pdf, 1.30Mb - Policy Guidance on the molecular second-line line-probe assay
pdf, 2.06Mb - Factsheet on the shorter MDR-TB regimen
pdf, 497kb - Factsheet on the molecular line-probe assay for the detection of resistance to second-line anti-TB drugs (SL-LPA)
pdf, 443kb
fact buffet
Lives saved
43 millionlives were saved through effective diagnosis and treatment, 2000-2014.
Fact sheet on tuberculosisMDR-TB cases
480 000people developed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in the world in 2014.
Q&A on MDR-TBFunding
1.4 billionUS dollars per year needed to fill resource gap for implementing existing TB interventions.
Global TB report factspdf, 450kb
FEATURE STORIES: UNITE TO END TB
NEWS AND EVENTS
WORLD TB DAY
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World TB Day 2016: Unite to end TB
World TB Day is an opportunity to raise awareness about the burden of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide and the status of TB prevention and control efforts.
