Tuberculosis

The Fight against TB in the Americas

This fact sheet briefly describes PAHO activities carried out by its tuberculosis team: its mission and areas of work, the global strategy and control and treatment program, drug-resistant different forms of the disease (MDR- and XDR-TB), and the focus on the most vulnerable populations (persons living with TB/HIV, persons deprived of liberty, and indigenous populations).

Mission

Provide support to Member States in the efforts for the surveillance, control, prevention of tuberculosis (including MDR-TB, XDR-TB and TB/HIV); provide assistance to all the countries of the Region to meet PAHO goals for TB control (detection rate of 70% and success rate of 85%), sustain these achievements, and cut TB prevalence and mortality in half by 2015.

Areas of Work

Technical assistance in monitoring and evaluation: Provide technical consulting services to the countries of the Region in monitoring and evaluating the expansion of the DOTS Strategy and in preparing projects.
Regional and Subregional Meetings: Provide support in the organization of regional and subregional meetings to design and discuss action plans to bring about the expansion of the DOTS/TAES Strategy and to reach WHO goals.
Technical Support to Operational Research: Provide technical consulting services to support, conduct, and monitor studies on the resistance surveillance of anti-TB drugs (MDR-TB); design and carry out operational studies to improve TB control.
Support for Human-Resource Development (Capacity-Building): Provide support by developing courses and subregional workshops to train human resources throughout the Region.
Production of materials, bulletins, and technical guidelines for tuberculosis: Provide support for the dissemination of plans of action, results, and experiences in the expansion of the DOTS/TAES Strategy in the Region.
Prevention and Control Programs: Implement programs to prevent and control tuberculosis.
Project Preparation and Monitoring: Develop, monitor, and evaluate regional and multicenter projects with extrabudgetary funding, and prepare their respective reports.

Expected Results

Expand DOTS coverage and improve its quality throughout the entire Region.
- Strengthen DOTS in indigenous and prison populations (with seminars to evaluate programs and exchange experiences funded by the countries working with these population groups).
- Increase access to treatment for neglected populations, as well as for TB-MDR and TB/HIV patients.
Strengthen the regional laboratory network (with funding for quality control of national laboratories—culture techniques, sensitivity and resistance tests—from the supranational labs).
- Improve epidemiological surveillance and assure the availability of program evaluation systems.
Strengthen the epidemiological surveillance of TB/HIV co-infection in the priority countries of the Region (funding for implementation of a form to collect information, personnel training and monitoring/evaluation from Regional TB and HIV programs, and elaboration of study on HIV prevalence among TB patients in selected countries).
Fund clinical studies in the Region.