Translational research for tuberculosis elimination: priorities, challenges, and actions

Christian Lienhardt et al.
March 4, 2016, 11:36 p.m.

Summary Points

The WHO End TB Strategy, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2014, has the ambitious goal of ending the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2035, with targets of a 95% decline in deaths due to TB (compared with 2015) and a 90% reduction in incidence of TB to ten cases/100,000 or less and no TB-affected household experiencing catastrophic costs due to TB.
Achieving this goal will only be possible through the development and rapid uptake of new tools, including rapid point-of-care diagnostics, safe and shorter treatment of latent TB infection and disease, and an efficacious TB vaccine, combined with efficient health systems and care provision, and actions on the social determinants of TB.
Research for TB elimination requires an intensification of efforts across a continuum from fundamental research to clinical, epidemiological, implementation, health system, and social science research.
Enhancing research along the full spectrum, from basic to implementation, and strengthening research capacity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries severely affected by the TB epidemics, is crucial for TB elimination.
The creation of a research-enabling environment that fosters and rewards high-quality research requires a broad-based, concerted effort by national governments and international donors to develop and promote TB research and research capacity at the country level and the effective engagement of all stakeholders.

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