Since its inception in 1920, The Union has had a focus on tuberculosis (TB) and innovating TB care.
We have now set out our 2022-2027 vision, objectives and strategy for ending TB. This can only be achieved collectively, with our members, partners and TB community – everyone has a role to play.
Together, we can bring an end to TB.
Our work in TB
The Union works towards the global elimination of TB. We support high-quality, accessible prevention and care for people with and at risk of TB, to expand the evidence base for TB care and prevention and implement new knowledge into policy and practice.
Project Axshya
In collaboration with local partners and over 15,000 community volunteers, The Union provided innovative tuberculosis (TB) interventions designed to serve traditionally hard-to-reach and at-risk populations in India.
Specific TB priority areas
Read more about how The Union is working to fight key areas of TB:
Child & Adolescent Tuberculosis
The Union works to develop, test, implement and scale up routine screening of child contacts of people with TB. We run observational studies and advocate to ensure children and adolescents are included in clinical trials that target diagnostics, vaccines and treatment of TB disease and infection.
TB-HIV, TB-Diabetes and other co-morbidities
The Union develops, tests, implements and scales up models of care for co-morbid conditions that increase the risk of developing TB, that are prevalent in high TB burden settings, or that adversely affect TB treatment outcomes.
The Zoonotic TB Sub-section was instrumental in the creation of the first-ever Roadmap for Zoonotic TB, a policy document that addressed the major health and economic impacts of the disease, created in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
Members work together to influence global policy and practice, ensuring their work has a greater global impact.
Understand the issues with our factsheets
Tuberculosis Union news
Empowering healthcare workers to combat childhood tuberculosis: A milestone in the fight against tuberculosis in Lesotho
The Union’s Sub-Saharan Africa Region Child and Adolescent TB Centre of Excellence (COE) in collaboration with U.S. Centers for Disease…
Managing household contacts of individuals with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis
In the last ten years, the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-…
Conflation of prediction and causality in the TB literature
A forthcoming IJTLD OPEN article addresses the frequent conflation of prediction and causal inference in observational TB studies, and outlines practical recommendations to enhance research precision and transparency.
Tobacco control treaty compromised by global disruptions
According to a new report endorsed by 57 civil society organizations worldwide, the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on…
Navigating the changes to drug-resistant TB treatment, care and diagnosis
The Union is the leading scientific organisation in tuberculosis (TB) and lung health, with expertise across all forms of TB, including…
New Paper Calls for Nutrition to Be Part of Everyday Health Care in Lower-Income Countries
A new report published in The Lancet Global Health is shining a spotlight on a major gap in health care across low- and middle-income…
International Nurses Day 2025
On 12 May, The Union celebrates the vital role nurses play in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) and lung disease, which…
Union Board of Directors election update
The Union is delighted to announce that Dr Bess Miller and Prof Steve Graham have been newly elected as members of the Board of…
US funding cuts negatively impact TB care and prevention across Africa
According to a rapid survey conducted by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), 65% of National TB…
Engaging Communities Affected by TB as Essential Partners in Research
The Union has always been interested in and has promoted communities affected by tuberculosis (TB). The most notable example is the time…
The Union launches free resources on Tuberculosis in Children and Adolescents
The resources include:
Facilitator manual: This comprehensive guide assists trainers in navigating the course structure, ensuring…Incarceration and Tuberculosis notifications during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and the Americas
A new study has identified lower than expected tuberculosis notifications in prisons across Europe and the Americas during the COVID-19…
TB Publications
Until recently, the focus has been on finding and treating people with TB. But now bold targets for TB prevention have been outlined in the recent UN High-Level Meeting on TB. The Union develops, tests, implements and scales up models of care to increase the uptake and completion of TB preventive treatments in key high risk groups including children under 5 and people living with HIV.
'Prevent Tuberculosis: Management of TB Infection' is a free course which improves knowledge of all aspects of the management of TB infection including the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis with the specific aim of increasing country-level implementation of TB prevention among i) household contact of people affected by TB, especially those under five years of age, ii) persons with risk factors to develop TB, and iii) people living with HIV in care.