2. Rationale

WHO guidelines on TPT are premised on the probability that TBI will progress to TB disease in specific risk groups, on the underlying epidemiology and burden of TB and on the feasibility and the public health benefit of the intervention. WHO global policy is expected to provide the basis for the development of national guidelines for PMTPT, adapted to local circumstances. These guidelines envisage a massive extension of TPT, including to individuals exposed to MDR/RR-TB, whereas global coverage of the intervention is still very low, even in priority target groups (10). The 2020 edition of the WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis: tuberculosis preventive treatment was the first in the modular series of consolidated guidelines on various aspects of TB care, accompanied by operational handbooks. These documents were published on the WHO TB Knowledge Sharing Platform in 2021, and a training module with the same content was released in 2022 (11). The 2024 edition of TPT guidelines and the associated operational handbook (12) will replace the earlier versions on the WHO TB Knowledge Sharing Platform.

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