Abstract
Question: How many European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries have national TB control plans/strategies, and what are the priority actions/populations and barriers to implementation?
Methods: Survey of EU/EEA national TB programme leads.
Results: The response rate was 100% (31 countries). 55% of countries reported having a national TB strategy, all of which were in implementation; five were preparing a strategy. 74% have a defined organisational TB control structure with central coordination, and 19% have a costed programme budget; few organisational structures included patient/civil society representation. The most frequently mentioned priority TB control actions were: reaching vulnerable population groups (80%); screening for active TB in high-risk groups (63%); implementing electronic registries (60%); contact tracing and outbreak investigation (60%); and tackling MDR-TB (60%). Undocumented migrants were the most commonly (46%) identified priority population. Perceived obstacles to implementation included barriers related to care recipients (lack of TB knowledge, treatment seeking/adherence), care providers (including need for specialist training of nurses and doctors) and health system constraints (funding, communication between health and social care systems).
Answer: This survey has provided an insight into TB control programmes across the EU/EEA which will inform the development of a TB strategy toolkit for member states.
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Collin has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. de Vries has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Lönnroth has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Migliori has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Abubakar has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Anderson has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Zenner has nothing to disclose
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