Clinical tuberculosis and treatment outcomes

The global targets for tuberculosis (TB) control set by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1991 were detection of at least 70% and cure of at least 85% of new sputum smear-positive TB cases by 2000, later revised to 2005. The DOTS strategy was introduced in the mid-1990s, and later became the cornerstone of the Stop TB Strategy, which was launched along with the Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015 in 2006. The Global Plan sets out how and to what extent the Stop TB Strategy should be implemented between 2006 and 2015 to achieve the TB-related Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halt and reverse the incidence of TB by 2015 and the Stop TB Partnership targets to reduce TB prevalence and death rates to 50% of 1990 levels by 2015, and to eliminate TB as a public health concern by 2050. Treatment success and case detection rates are outcome indicators used to measure the effectiveness of TB control along with the impact indicators incidence, prevalence and death rates. Globally, the rate of treatment success for smear-positive cases treated exceeded the WHA global target of 85% for the first time in 2007. This review focuses on articles related to treatment outcome in TB published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in 2009.