FeedbackThe Global Programme on Tuberculosis & Lung Health of the World Health Organization (WHO/GTB) is now combining all current recommendations into one overall set of consolidated guidelines on TB. The guidelines contain recommendations pertaining to all areas related to the programmatic management of TB (e.g. screening, preventive treatment, diagnostics, patient support, and the treatment of drug-susceptible TB and DR-TB). The consolidated guidelines contain modules specific to each programmatic area.
In this updated and consolidated Module 4. Treatment and care, stakeholders will be able to distinguish between previous recommendations that remain valid, previous recommendations that have been updated, and new recommendations that have been developed based on additional studies, considering the range of known benefits and potential harms, modelling exercises and other data to inform the decision-making process.
The methods used to develop and formulate the recommendations complied with WHO standards for guideline development, and were based on up-to-date evidence reviews, complemented with additional information on values and preferences, feasibility and acceptability, and cost. The GRADE approach was used to rate the certainty in the estimate of effect (i.e. quality of evidence) as high, moderate, low or very low; it was also used to determine the strength of the recommendations, rating them as strong or conditional.
Target audience
These guidelines are primarily targeted at policy-makers in ministries of health, or managers of NTPs who formulate country-specific TB treatment guidelines or are involved in the planning of TB treatment programmes. It is expected that these updated recommendations will also be used by health professionals, including doctors, nurses and educators working in governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and by technical agencies involved in treating patients and organizing treatment services.
