WHO's new Stop TB Strategy

Government commitment diagnosis through microscopy standardised and supervised treatment uninterrupted drug supply and regular monitoring which together constitute DOTS--the WHO recommended tuberculosis control strategy--are all essential for controlling tuberculosis. DOTS has helped make remarkable progress in global control of the disease over the past decade. The gain is evident: nearly 20 million patients have been cured of tuberculosis. However global statistics suggest that DOTS alone is not sufficient to achieve the 2015 tuberculosis-related Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the Stop TB Partnership targets. The need for a new strategy that builds on and goes beyond DOTS has also been recognised by the Second Ad-hoc Committee on the Global TB Epidemic and the 2005 World Health Assembly. (excerpt)