1. Introduction

This operational handbook on the treatment of drug-susceptible tuberculosis (DS-TB) complements the World Health Organization (WHO) publication WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis Module 4: Treatment – drug-susceptible tuberculosis treatment (1). It provides practical advice based on best practices and knowledge from fields such as pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, microbiology, pharmacovigilance, and clinical and programmatic management.

The focus of this handbook is on tuberculosis (TB) treatment because all implementation considerations on patient care and support during treatment, for both DS-TB and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), have been merged in a dedicated module: WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis Module 4: Treatment – tuberculosis care and support (2).

The update of the guidelines and implementation handbook for treatment of DS-TB is important in the context of the End TB Strategy, which recommends treatment and patient support for all people with TB (3). This update by WHO is based on the best available evidence on the treatment of DS-TB and is intended to assist national TB programme (NTP) managers, national policy-makers and medical practitioners in a variety of geographical, economic and social settings.

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