[The present status and future roles of tuberculosis advisory committees]

We surveyed the present status and future roles of Tuberculosis (TB) Advisory Committees to study the ideal concept of the Committees using questionnaires. After the introduction of the new TB Control Law (which allowed the integration of the Committees), about half of the local governments (prefectures, special cities and special wards in Tokyo) have decreased their committees numbers by a third to two-thirds of the original number of health centers. In order to improve the quality of the Committees, there were additional educational activities suggested by the respondents in the questionnaire. However there were several problems highlighted in the questionnaire, for example a decrease in TB specialists, the aging of Committee members and some Committees with extremely low numbers in reported cases of TB. For the improvement of the Committees both in quality and the range in activities, it is not enough to integrate the Committees. It is recommended that the Committees should be improved in training and education for doctors and staff of the health centers and that they contribute more in comprehensive counter measures against TB in each region. In future the Committees roles should be enlarged and improved in quality, for example, to carry out extra periodic mass screening for TB, and to examine the chest x-rays in mass screenings for lung cancer.