Tuberculosis surveillance and monitoring in Europe 2013

The fifth report launched jointly by ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe follows on from reports under the EuroTB project established in 1998
The 2015 Millennium Development Goal target of halting the prevalence and death associated with tuberculosis and reversing its incidence was partially achieved in 2011. Nevertheless, with prevalence of TB estimated at 56 cases per 100 000 population in the WHO European Region and TB mortality at 4.9 deaths per 100 000 population it will not be possible to reach the target of 50% by 2015.
This report highlights a number of positive developments in European TB epidemiology. Reporting completeness remains high for many variables and more countries have reported treatment outcome. Overall in the EU/EEA Member States, the TB notification rate continues to decrease, confirming the sustained effectiveness of national TB prevention and control programmes despite the economic crisis.
However, for European countries with a high incidence of TB, reducing the TB burden is still an uphill struggle. Although gradual progress in effective TB prevention and control is evident in the hardest-hit countries through consistently decreasing trends over time, there is still a considerable gap to close before all of Europe can truly envisage TB elimination.
 ECDC/WHO TB Surveillance and Monitoring Report 2013 Slide presentation - main findings