Improving quality is necessary to building a TB-free world: Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis

Abstract

The Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis (TB) set out to establish a roadmap for how high burden countries could get on track to meet the goals established by the UN High Level Meeting (UNHLM) in September 2018. The report sought to answer the question “How should TB high-burden countries and their development partners target their future investments to ensure that ending TB is achieved?” It provides a comprehensive analysis and specific recommendations to address this question and, ultimately, remove the barriers to building a TB-free World. Notably, the report highlights the importance of improving the quality of care as an essential component of ending the epidemic. Strategies for improving quality must be hard-wired into how National TB Programs are organized, to ensure greater equity in TB service provision and implementation of evidence-based practices and clinical guidelines. Investing in TB research and development, especially implementation, policy and programmatic research to determine how to deliver high quality care must also be high priority. In addition, improving the quality of TB programs is contingent on strategies that enhance accountability at all levels, from the level of Head of State to the local TB clinics. To this ends it is essential that TB survivors and their advocates have a voice to raise inconvenient truths and demand improvements in quality. The Commission concludes that the prospect of a TB-free world is a realistic objective that can be achieved with the right commitment of leadership and resources but will only be realized as and when quality of care is prioritized as a central tenet of all TB programs.