A best practice in facilitating tuberculosis (TB) data analysis and use is the cascade method for finding gaps in programs. Cascades quantify, track, and visualize how health and development programs are performing for the target population at progressive stages toward an expected outcome. They reveal weaknesses at stages of TB control and help program and project managers recognize unacceptable variations among different disaggregation levels and refine targeted TB activities for implementation. Ersin Topcuoglu, MD, MPH, explains.

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As the world has awakened to the urgent need to stem the COVID-19 virus and mount an aggressive and creative defense, those veterans of the tuberculosis (TB) fight have ideas and skills that should be deployed. In the spirit of cooperation and aligned interests, we offer here recent papers and resources that shed light on the implications of COVID-19 on TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment.

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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been a leader in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB) for more than two decades, funding anti-TB efforts in more than 50 countries. USAID’s Global Accelerator to End TB aims to support priority country ministries of health through delivery of technical expertise to increase TB and multi drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) diagnosis and treatment; strengthen local TB organizations; speed the transition of sustainable funding and management of TB programs to governments; and improve coordination of TB programs with other health programs. Helping countries interpret and manage their data to fight TB is a key focus.

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