WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis Module 2: Screening – Systematic screening for tuberculosis disease

The handbook provides practical advice on how to put in place the WHO recommendations at the scale needed to achieve national and global impact. It is intended for personnel in national TB programmes and national HIV/AIDS programmes, or their equivalents, and other relevant national health programmes in ministries of health; other relevant ministries working in public health and screening; other health policy-makers, implementing partners including technical and funding agencies, civil society and representatives of affected communities, clinicians and public health practitioners working on TB and HIV and infectious diseases in the public and private sectors. The handbook aims to support policymakers and health professionals to choose the best approach to planning and implementing screening and active TB case-finding, depending on the context. It provides a sound basis for development or updating of national guidelines for TB screening according to the epidemiology of TB in different risk groups and the health care delivery system in the country. This will contribute to finding people with TB who may be missed by passive TB case detection and finding people with TB earlier in the course of disease to reduce transmission, morbidity, mortality and financial hardship.