Infection prevention and control activities are amongst the key components envisaged by the End TB Strategy to curb the tuberculosis (TB) burden worldwide. The WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 1: prevention - infection prevention and control provides practical advice on how to implement the WHO recommendations on TB infection prevention and control, within the clinical and programmatic management of TB, using a public health approach. It is part of a modular series of practical guides meant for the implementers of various aspects of the programmatic management TB.
The handbook emphasizes the importance of building integrated, well-coordinated, multisectoral actions across all levels of health care and other settings where there is a high risk of M. tuberculosis transmission. It shares best practices and experiences and provides checklists and job aids to support the implementation and monitoring of actions to cut transmissions, and promotes an implementation hierarchy of interventions across all settings as an integrated package. The target audience for the handbook includes policy-makers at national and subnational level; programme managers for TB, HIV and noncommunicable disease programmes; managers and clinicians at inpatient and outpatient health care facilities; managers at various congregate settings; occupational health officials; engineers; medical practitioners; frontline health care workers; and other key stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
