Treatment of tuberculosis guidelines: fourth edition

The Stop TB Strategy and the Global Plan to imple­ment the new strategy make it necessary to revise the third edition of Treatment of tuberculosis: guidelines for national programmes, published in 2003. Creation of the fourth edition follows new WHO procedures for guidelines development. With input from a group of external experts – the Guidelines Group – WHO identified seven key questions, and systematic reviews were conducted for each question. The Guidelines Group based its recommendations on the quality of the evidence (assessed according to the GRADE methodology), patient values, and costs, as well judgements about trade-offs between benefits and harms. As new studies help to fill gaps in knowledge, new laboratory technology is introduced, and new drugs are discovered, these guidelines will be updated and revised. In the meantime, WHO pledges its full support to helping countries to im­plement and evaluate this fourth edition of Treatment of tuberculosis: guidelines and to use the lessons learnt to improve access to high-quality, life-saving TB care.