World leaders at the UN High-Level Meeting on TB have approved a Political Declaration with ambitious new targets for the next five years to advance the global efforts towards ending the TB epidemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) provided the latest logistical information regarding the upcoming UN High-Level Meeting on TB to be held on 22 September 2023 in New York City. It can be accessed here together with various advocacy materials.

WHO urges world leaders to commit to progress on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and to secure health for all, end TB, and reinvigorate SDGs.

The World Health Organization releases an operational handbook on TB infection prevention and control, providing practical advice to complement its evidence-based guidelines.

The World Health Organization’s 2023 Model Lists of Essential Medicines, published in July 2023, features key updates to the TB section.

31 July 2023  | Geneva-- To inform research and development priorities for tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics and address unmet needs, the World Health Organization (WHO) is in the process of updating high-priority target product profiles (TPPs) for TB diagnostics. TPPs provide detailed technical specifications that are important to end-users (e.g. a test’s required performance) and operational characteristics to inform product manufacturers. Due to continuous developments in a TB diagnostic and treatment domains, there is ongoing need to regularly update TPPs in order to adapt them to an evolving context of a global TB control needs. Current update focuses on the TB diagnostic tests for peripheral settings.

25 July 2023 | Geneva --Targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) for the detection of drug-resistant TB is a new class of diagnostic technology. It provides an option for rapid and accurate genetic analysis and detection of mutations associated with resistance in a fraction of the time required for culture-based methods for detecting resistance. Various commercially available “End-to-End” tests for targeted NGS have become available in recent years that can detect resistance to multiple drugs simultaneously, provide rapid results with testing directly on patient samples, and have the potential to assimilate new information on genetic markers for resistance as they become known.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched two new e-courses on national strategic planning for TB and systematic screening for TB disease. The new WHO e-courses have been added to the End TB Channel in OpenWHO. They are free of charge and self-paced. A certificate can be downloaded if a 80% score or higher is achieved in the final assessment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Programme has created an online platform to help users find practical advice to implement digital technologies to support TB care worldwide. The platform includes easy access to guidelines and job aids developed by WHO and technical partners, as well as links to key literature and country examples. The content is organized around four functions: person-centred care, programme management, surveillance and monitoring, and eLearning. The online platform will be updated regularly with the most recent guidance and tools.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on dosing of TB medicines for adults and children. For further details about the advisory group, the expert profiles being sought, the process for experts to express interest, and the process of selection, click here.