Abstract
European Respiratory Society (ERS) and World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO) signed an agreement to develop jointly an electronic platform for international medical consultation regarding multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR- TB) cases. Since its launch in September 2012, the ERS/WHO TB Consilium (https://www.tbconsilium.org/) was used by clinicians of different countries to consult international experts, free-of-charge and in English, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese languages.
In response to the increasing number of people traveling, and so of TB/MDR-TB patients, the Wolfheze Transborder Migration Task Force developed a minimum package for cross-border TB control and care in the WHO European region (Dara M. et al. Eur Respir J 2012; 40:1081-1090). Among others, the package calls for mechanisms of intercountry correspondence and data sharing. The success of ERS/WHO TB Consilium suggested to expand it with an additional function for cross-border case management, in alternative to the communication through the networks of International Health Regulations and WHO offices.
The idea was discussed at the National TB Programme Managers' Meeting in May 2013. It followed the joint work of WHO/ERS experts and web-developer that considered three needs in communicating between countries: retrieving data of past diagnosis/treatment; referring a patient for treatment continuation; informing contact tracing. These sub-functions were tested by WHO and ERS. Confidentiality is preserved. The new cross-border function of the ERS/WHO TB Consilium will operate through the network of TB focal points (53 countries) in the WHO European region and WHO staff working in other regional offices.
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