Guidelines for treatment of drug-susceptible tuberculosis and patient care 2017 update

The update of the Guidelines for treatment of drug-susceptible tuberculosis and patient care is important in the context of the End TB Strategy, which recommends treatment and patient support for all people with TB. This update by WHO aims to use the best available evidence on the treatment of drug-susceptible TB and interventions to ensure adequate patient care and support in order to inform policy decisions made in these technical areas by national TB control programme managers, national policy-makers and medical practitioners in a variety of geographical, economic and social settings. The objectives of the updated Guidelines for treatment of drug-susceptible tuberculosis and patient care are to provide updated recommendations based on newly emerged evidence on the treatment of drug-susceptible TB and patient care; and to provide a summary of changes in the new guidelines together with all the existing and valid WHO recommendations on the treatment of drug-susceptible TB and TB patient care. The key audience for these guidelines is policy-makers in ministries of health or managers of national TB programmes who formulate country-specific TB treatment guidelines or who plan TB treatment programmes. In addition, health professionals - including doctors, nurses and educators working both in government services and in nongovernmental organizations, such as technical agencies that are treating patients and organizing treatment services - are expected to use these guidelines. A supplement contains the list of essential first-line antituberculosis drugs