Operational Handbooks

Definitions

Adolescent: a person aged 10–19 years.

Adult: a person over 19 years of age.

Advanced HIV disease: for adults, adolescents, and children aged 5 years or more, “advanced HIV disease” is defined as a CD4 cell count of less than 200 cells/mm³ or a WHO clinical stage 3 or 4 event at presentation for care. All children with HIV aged under 5 years should be considered as having advanced disease at presentation.

Acknowledgements

This document was developed by Annabel Baddeley and Anna Carlqvist (consultant), with inputs from Kerri Viney, Matteo Zignol and Farai Mavhunga, under the overall direction of Tereza Kasaeva, director, all at the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Programme.

Experts consulted during stakeholder consultation and external review

Introduction

Globally, tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant cause of ill health and is a leading cause of death due to an infectious agent (1). The TB epidemic is attributable to five main health-related risk factors globally, namely, diabetes mellitus (diabetes), HIV, smoking, undernutrition, and disorders due to alcohol use. The contribution of these risk factors to the global TB burden is reported annually in the WHO global tuberculosis report (1).