Over 130 participants from countries, civil society, affected communities, partners and the private sector joined a virtual consultation organized by WHO’s Global TB Programme on the development of guidance for conducting reviews of TB programmes.
The guidance document builds on the experience of countries, as well as the latest guidelines and tools issued by WHO. It will complement the new guidance on developing a national TB strategic plan, that will be published shortly.
“The feedback and inputs from partners and key stakeholders to WHO’s guidance will be key to ensuring that TB programme reviews become even more effective and fully harness the engagement of sectors beyond health towards ending TB”, said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Programme. “Programme reviews provide strong momentum and an opportunity for high level advocacy to spotlight the status of the TB response in the country and accelerate progress”.
Participants welcomed the updated guidance for programme reviews. It was acknowledged that a programme review is a major component of the TB programme cycle: it allows the TB programme to identify strengths and weaknesses, chart the way forward and re-evaluate its strategy in the context of the health sector and beyond. The consultation emphasized that programme reviews are a powerful tool for strengthening accountability, and initiating and underpinning the importance of multi-sectoral action. Programme reviews are a continuous and dynamic process, which builds on regular supervision, monitoring activities, and requires careful planning. It was also recognised that programme reviews constitute a major opportunity for quality improvement, highlighting local innovations and successes. People should be at the heart of this process, and civil society and affected communities are key to ensure this.
WHO’s Global TB Programme is inviting feedback on the draft guidance from national TB programmes, private sector, technical partners and civil society engaged in the field until 18th August 2022. Please access the draft document at this .
Feedback can be provided using this template .
