title: Digital health for the End TB Strategy: developing priority products and making them work.
abstract: In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the End TB Strategy in response to a World Health Assembly Resolution requesting Member States to end the worldwide epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) by 2035. For the strategy's objectives to be realised, the next 20 years will need novel solutions to address the challenges posed by TB to health professionals, and to affected people and communities. Information and communication technology presents opportunities for innovative approaches to support TB efforts in patient care, surveillance, programme management and electronic learning. The effective application of digital health products at a large scale and their continued development need the engagement of TB patients and their caregivers, innovators, funders, policy-makers, advocacy groups, and affected communities.In April 2015, WHO established its Global Task Force on Digital Health for TB to advocate and support the development of digital health innovations in global efforts to improve TB care and prevention. We outline the group's approach to stewarding this process in alignment with the three pillars of the End TB Strategy. The supplementary material of this article includes target product profiles, as developed by early 2016, defining nine priority digital health concepts and products that are strategically positioned to enhance TB action at the country level.
authors.affiliation: Global TB Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland falzond@who.int.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Falzon
authors.affiliation: Global TB Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hazim
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Timimi
authors.affiliation: European Respiratory Society, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kurosinski
authors.affiliation: European Respiratory Society, Lausanne, Switzerland WHO Collaborating Centre, Fondazione S. Maugeri, Tradate, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni Battista
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Migliori
authors.affiliation: Global TB Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Wayne
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authors.lastname: Van Gemert
authors.affiliation: FIND, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denkinger
authors.affiliation: FIND, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Isaacs
authors.affiliation: Find & Treat, University College London Hospitals, London, UK.
authors.forename: Alistair
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authors.affiliation: University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Garfein
authors.affiliation: Management Sciences for Health, Arlington, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Luis Gustavo
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: do Valle Bastos
authors.affiliation: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mohammed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Yassin
authors.affiliation: WHO Country Office, Minsk, Belarus.
authors.forename: Valiantsin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rusovich
authors.affiliation: Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Pulmonology and Tuberculosis, Minsk, Belarus.
authors.forename: Alena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skrahina
authors.affiliation: National TB Programme, Hanoi, Viet Nam.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Hoi
authors.affiliation: FIND, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Broger
authors.affiliation: University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abubakar
authors.affiliation: Farr Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hayward
authors.affiliation: The Arcady Group, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Zelalem
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Temesgen
authors.affiliation: ZMQ, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Subhi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quraishi
authors.affiliation: TB Proof, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Dalene
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: von Delft
authors.affiliation: Global TB Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jaramillo
authors.affiliation: Global TB Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weyer
authors.affiliation: Global TB Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mario C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Raviglione
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D058872:Epidemics; D005544:Forecasting; D006292:Health Priorities; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D017216:Telemedicine; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014944:World Health Organization