Tuberculosis Elimination Strategy

The Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination Strategy was introduced in 1992. National responsibilities include policy-making, care, and treatment and surveillance. Activities such as case management, drug supply, maintenance of a TB registry, outbreak management, and community health education are centralized at the Regional level, and implemented through primary health services at the community level.

The goal of the TB Elimination Strategy program is to:

• Work towards the elimination of TB among First Nations and Inuit communities in Canada , by decreasing the incidence of the disease to 1 per 100,000 by 2010.

The objectives of the TB Elimination Strategy program are to:

• Prevent further occurrence of TB disease and infection
• Prevent the emergence of drug resistance
• Achieve lifetime control of the patient's TB
• Support ongoing program evaluation and information collection to inform policy and strategy enhancement

The TB Elimination Strategy is composed of the following program components:

• Case Finding and Case Holding
• Contact Tracing and Chemoprophylaxis
• Surveillance
• Health Education and Training
• Research

The TB Elimination strategy is undergoing a major review in 2005-2006 that will draw upon lessons learned and best practices over several recent years.