In June 2006, the Global TB Programme (GTB) in the World Health Organization (WHO) established a Global Task Force on TB Impact Measurement, with the TB monitoring, evaluation and strategic information (TME) unit in GTB acting as the secretariat.

The initial aim of the Task Force was to ensure that WHO’s assessment of whether the 2015 global TB targets were achieved was rigorous, robust and consensus-based. Following publication of this assessment in the 2015 Global TB Report,  the Task Force reviewed and updated its mission and strategic areas of work in April 2016. The focus is now on measurement of progress towards the TB milestones and targets set in the End TB Strategy (2016-2035) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2016-2030). These milestones and targets were for reductions in TB incidence, the number of TB deaths, and costs faced by TB patients and their households, between 2015 and 2035. Strategic areas of work include strengthening routine surveillance of TB incidence and mortality via national disease notification and vital registration systems; priority studies to periodically measure TB disease burden (e.g. national TB prevalence surveys and national surveys of costs faced by TB patients and their households); periodic review of methods used by WHO to produce estimates of TB disease burden; and analysis and use of TB surveillance and survey data for policy, planning, and programmatic action.

The Task Force includes a wide range of experts in TB epidemiology, statistics and modelling, representatives from major technical and financial partners and representatives from countries with a high burden of TB. There have been seven full Task Force meetings since its inception and many other meetings and workshops on specific topics.

A Task Force brochure (May 2023 edition) that provides an overview of our work (published annually) is provided here.

More regular Task Force progress updates, focused on five topics for which it is especially useful to share regular information among countries and their technical and financial partners to facilitate planning, implementation and follow-up, are issued 2-3 times per year. The latest update (December 2021) is available here.

The report of the most recent meeting of the Task Force is available here.

The most recent publications related to work done under the umbrella of the Task Force are the 6th edition of the guidance (available in English and French) for the surveillance of drug resistance in tuberculosis, and a book that provides a global synthesis of results and lessons learned from national TB prevalence surveys implemented 2007-2016.