WHO Policy on Collaborative TB HIV Activities – Guidelines for National Programmes and Other Stakeholders, World Health Organization (2012)

This World Health Organization (WHO) policy sets forth recommended collaborative tuberculosis (TB)/HIV activities, including: 1) establishing and strengthening mechanisms for delivering integrated tuberculosis and HIV services; 2) reducing the burden of TB in people with HIV, their families, and their communities by intensified case-finding, isoniazid preventive therapy, and infection control (the WHO’s “Three I’s”); and 3) reducing the burden of HIV in people with presumptive and diagnosed TB. The guide- lines update the WHO’s 2004 interim policy, and are informed by additional research observational studies, operations research, and best practices from programmatic implementation of the 2004 policy. The authors state that though the recommended TB/HIV activities will be more successful when implemented under national direction, they are designed to also allow implementation by other stakeholders, nongovernmental organizations, community- and faith-based organizations, and the private-for-profit or corporate sector. They note that HIV and TB programs should collaborate with other programs to ensure access to integrated services for particularly vulnerable populations, including women, children, prisoners, and people who use drugs.