WHO issues policy update and implementation manual on the use of Xpert MTB/RIF

24 April 2014 | Geneva | WHO has issued a policy update on the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the diagnosis of TB in adults and children. An accompanying implementation manual has been developed which takes into consideration the current body of evidence and operational experiences available, in the context of the Policy update. There has been an unprecedented uptake of Xpert MTB/RIF following the release of WHO’s policy in 2010. By the end of March 2014, more than 2,300 GeneXpert instruments and more than 6 million Xpert MTB/RIF cartridges had been procured in the public sector in 104 countries eligible for concessional prices.

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24 March| GENEVA - BRICS countries have joined together on World TB Day to call for united action against tuberculosis (TB) – a disease responsible for more deaths in the last 200 years than any other disease. By prioritizing TB in domestic investments, BRICS countries aim to control and ultimately eliminate TB.

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21 March 2014| Geneva | About 3 million people are “missed” each year by health systems and many therefore do not get the TB care that they need and deserve. On World TB Day this year, WHO along with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the Stop TB Partnership call for a global effort to find, treat and cure all those ill with TB and accelerate progress towards zero TB deaths, infections, suffering and stigma.

• Read the WHO, Stop TB Partnership and Global Fund joint statement on reaching the missed 3 million
• Read the advocacy brochure on reaching the 3 million

GENEVA | 20 MARCH 2014| Almost half a million people fell ill with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in 2012, yet less than one in 4 of these people was diagnosed, mainly due to a lack of access to quality diagnostic services.
But with an innovative international project, 27 countries are making promising progress in diagnosing MDR-TB, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in the lead-up to World TB Day, 24 March. The project known as EXPAND-TB (Expanding Access to New Diagnostics for TB), financed by UNITAID, helped to triple the number of MDR-TB cases diagnosed in participating countries.

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• Download the EXPAND-TB advocacy brief
• Download and share infographic
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