TB prevention activities in the WHO European Region.

Abstract

Background: TB preventive treatment (TPT) is the primary available healthcare intervention to reduce the risk of progression from TB infection to TB disease. The WHO Regional Office for Europe established the European Prevention and Systematic Screening Initiative to End TB (PASS) to scale up activities related to the programmatic management of TPT. In the absence of a system to measure and monitor preventive activities, a baseline assessment survey was carried out to provide a reference to monitor the scale-up of the intervention.

Methods: This was a semi-structured survey including 52 questions that was developed, implemented in the WHO-hosted LimeSurvey data form and sent to focal points in the 55 countries and territories in the European Region between September and October 2023. The questions covered TPT, systematic screening and infection prevention and control.

Results: A total of 28 questionnaires were returned, corresponding to an overall 51% response rate. Most national policies for TPT and TB screening are in line with the latest WHO guidelines. However, implementation of TB screening, prevention, and infection control activities is lagging. Results are presented separately for high-priority and low-priority countries.

Conclusion: The survey identified several important areas that the PASS initiative will focus on to accelerate efforts towards reaching the targets set at the 2027 UN High-Level Meeting on TB for preventive therapy in the European Region. This will require a massive scale-up of efforts and larger investments, as well as coordinated approaches and interventions across the 'cascade' of prevention, from the identification of target populations to the completion of treatment.