Translational research for Tuberculosis elimination: prorities, challenges, and actions
The World Health Organization End TB Strategy has the ambitious goal of ending the global tuberculosis epidemic by 2035
Abstract
The World Health Organization End TB Strategy, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2014, has the ambitious goal of ending the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2035, with targets of a 95% decline in deaths due to TB (compared with 2015), a 90% reduction in incidence of TB to ten cases/100,000 or less, and no TB-affected household experiencing catastrophic costs due to TB.
To achieve these targets, a steep acceleration of the annual decline in global TB incidence will be required, from an average of 2% per year in 2015 to 10% per year by 2025. Such a decline was observed in Western European and North American countries after World War II within the context of expanded access to health care and rapid socioeconomic development. While these measures, combined with optimal use of current tools and strategies, can produce up to a 10% reduction in incidence and deaths by 2025, a further acceleration of the decline in TB incidence to around 17% per year on average will be necessary to achieve the 2035 goals of the End TB Strategy. This acceleration will only be possible through the development and rapid uptake of new tools, including an efficacious TB vaccine, safe and shorter treatment of latent TB infection and disease, and rapid point-of-care diagnostics, combined with efficient health systems and care provision. Therefore, intensified research and innovation is one of the 3 fundamental pillars of the new WHO End TB Strategy. Of note, these targets are consistent with the 2035 “convergence targets” proposed by the Commission on Investing in Health in its Global Health 2035 report: the commission’s modelling suggested that a 91% reduction in TB deaths would be feasible in low-income and lower-middle-income countries from 2011 to 2035.
This research was supported by the UK Department for International Development’s Operational Research Capacity Building Programme led by the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union)
Citation
Lienhardt C, Lönnroth K, Menzies D, Balasegaram M, Chakaya J, Cobelens F, et al. (2016) Translational Research for Tuberculosis Elimination: Priorities, Challenges, and Actions. PLoS Med 13(3): doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001965
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Translational research for Tuberculosis elimination: prorities, challenges, and actions