This report describes an improvement activity in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to reduce the number of unusable sputum samples for TB diagnostic testing. The reduction was achieved by improving the process through which respiratory suspects provided samples and other techniques to help patients provide usable samples. The report is also available in Spanish.

Este informe corto describe una mejora ejecutada en El Alto, Bolivia, para mejorar el cumplimiento del tratamiento por tuberculosis por medio de una estrategia de asegurar la disponibilidad del curso completo de tratamiento por medio de organizarlo en cajas de medicina reservada para cada paciente y mejoramiento de la distribución de medicamentos al nivel del red de salud.  El informe está disponible también en inglés.

The USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) partnered with the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) and professional associations in Indonesia to develop and disseminate TB CD-ROM and computer-based training packages for medical and other health practitioners. The CD-ROM training package is designed to improve diagnosis, management, and referral of tuberculosis patients in accordance with NTP guidelines. Private medical practitioners are trained in directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) and the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care that are part of the STOP TB strategy.

The MDR-TB online community is a discussion forum covering all issues related to multi- and extensively-drug resistant TB. Users can seek information about and share clinical, programmatic and community-level information about early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of M/XDR-TB.

The TB CARE II project site introduces promising new resources to fight TB and share information about successful interventions at the country, regional, or global levels, and shares information about project resources, events, and opportunities for collaboration with TB implementing partners around the world. This site allows TB CARE II project partners, collaborating organizations, TB professionals and the general public to access information regarding recent project updates and newly developed tools and resources from different field support and core activities. For new partners and staff as well as potential collaborators, the site provides an overview of the TB CARE II project, objectives, key staff, partners, and contacts as well as links to other TB-related news and information sources.

The Tuberculosis Control Assistance Program (TB CAP) is a five-year (2005-2010) cooperative agreement funded by USAID to the Tuberculosis Coalition for Technical Assistance (TB-CTA), a coalition of the major international organizations in TB control led by the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation. 

The International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC) describe a widely accepted level of care that all practitioners, public and private, should seek to achieve in managing patients who have, or are suspected of having, tuberculosis. The Standards are intended to facilitate the effective engagement of all care providers in delivering high-quality care for patients of all ages, including those with sputum smear-positive, sputum smear-negative, and extra pulmonary tuberculosis, tuberculosis caused by drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms, and tuberculosis combined with HIV infection.

The ISTC are available for download in English, French and Spanish at the National TB Center web site managed by The Francis J. Curry National Tuberculosis Center (CNTC) at the University of California, San Francisco.