16 September 2021 – On 20–21 September 2021, WHO's regional TB programme will hold a 2-day webinar on latent TB infection management, prevention and screening in the Region for WHO staff from the 3 levels of the Organization, national TB programme managers and staff, and representatives of UN agencies, partner organizations and civil society organizations.

The objectives of the event are to:

brief participants on the current WHO guidance on TB preventive therapy and systematic screening/early case finding, including considerations for country-level implementation;

discuss partner perspectives in supporting scale-up of TB preventive therapy and screening in countries of the Region;

agree on SMART ways forward to improve national programme performance with regards to TB preventive therapy and screening to accelerate efforts to reach the related targets set in the Political Declaration of the UN General-Assembly High-Level Meeting on the Fight Against Tuberculosis, WHO’s End TB Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As part of the global TB community, the regional TB Programme is committed to achieving SDG target 3.3.to end tuberculosis and other epidemics that threaten health and well-being and works in close collaboration with Member States to support and strengthen their health systems to achieve condition- and disease-specific service coverage results.

An update will be presented during the webinar on all WHO guidance on tuberculosis prevention, screening, and case finding, and consensus reached with national TB programmes and partners on the key country actions needed to scale up TB prevention and screening strategies to drive progress to reach global targets. Participants will discuss implications for countries, as well as how potential implementation challenges can be addressed. Possible synergies with COVID-19 work will be explored and capitalized on through the involvement of relevant WHO Health Emergencies Programme and health systems staff.