The release of Australia’s new national Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination and Equity (2026-2030) this month is an important step in developing more person-centred and holistic care for people affected by TB.
Over the last decade, strategic plans have focused on reducing the number of TB cases each year. As one of the countries with the lowest rates of TB globally, Australia has been at the forefront of working towards TB elimination, with services focused greatly on ensuring access to treatment and prevention of transmission to others in the community.
These efforts, particularly for those who migrate to Australia from higher-burden settings, have been effective in maintaining TB control.
However, we’ve recognised that the impact that TB has on people and communities goes well beyond just the number of cases that occur, and that the burden of this disease is not fairly spread.
This new Strategic Plan, then, marks a significant shift to introduce an explicit focus on working towards equity for people and communities affected most by TB.
Striving towards equity in this new vision includes a range of lenses for recognising how TB affects people and the impact that it can have.
There are issues of ensuring health access across rural Australia, particularly in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and in identifying people at highest risk of financial stress and long-term physical impact from TB.
These new pillars will broaden the focus of public health programs to include TB in pregnancy and assessment of post-TB lung disease, which have previously not been documented nationally.
They also build on foundational Australian work in TB public health genomics, now being used nationally to focus programmatic responses.
This strategic focus is closely aligned with the work of the Victorian Tuberculosis Program, a Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) service based at the Doherty Institute.
For example, Krista Watts, senior social worker and doctoral candidate, is currently leading the first comprehensive study of the financial impact of TB in Australia, including in-depth interviews to better understand financial toxicity and where costs arise.
This will help with the design of new programs aimed at ensuring people don’t experience financial and housing-related stress around TB care, and in removing barriers to accessing effective and timely care.
The Strategic Plan will guide Australian TB clinical, public health and research activities over the next five years, and we hope it will provide a valuable resource as we work together toward a world free of the pain and suffering caused by this disease.
Written by Professor Justin Denholm, Chair of the National Tuberculosis Advisory Committee, and the Medical Director of the Victorian Tuberculosis Program.
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