Operational research in the context of advancing towards tuberculosis elimination in the Americas

ABSTRACT

[EXTRACT]. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major source of ill health, one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, ranking above HIV/AIDS. TB is preventable, treatable, and curable. Timely diagnosis and treatment can cure most people who develop TB and curtail onward transmission (1). Treatment requires multiple drugs and requires from 6 months to 2 years depending on the type of TB (drug susceptible or resistant). These long, drug-treatment regimens are challenging for both patients and health care systems. The Sustainable Development Goals propose ending the TB epidemic by 2030 (2). The World Health Organization’s (WHO) End TB Strategy provides a framework for reaching this goal with a patient-centered approach and inter-programmatic and intersectoral interventions (3). These interventions involve affected communities and address the social determinants of TB, which have a greater impact on vulnerable populations. They are also aligned with the Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage Strategy (4). The Declaration of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB held in September 2018 renewed the commitment of WHO Member States to strengthen their national TB efforts, fighting against this disease by leveraging the existing global frameworks (5, 6).