ICRC

1 August 2009
Dear Sir/Madam

One third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, consequently
more than 9 million cases of active tuberculosis and 1.5 million deaths occurs due to TB every
year globally. Without further efforts to control tuberculosis particularly among the risk groups,
TB will continue to be a major public health problem. Prisoners and the prison environment are
considered vulnerable to TB infection, transmission and development of resistance to treatment.

Since the first International Guidelines for Control of TB in Prisons were issued in 1997, TB has
evolved considerably with emergence of poly/multi and extensively drug resistance forms.
Likewise new tools and approaches to diagnosis and treatment of TB have been developed.

It is our pleasure to share with you the third edition of the International Guidelines for Control
of Tuberculosis in Prisons 2009. This document provides the latest guiding principles for
implementation of the internationally recommended Stop TB strategy in prison settings.
Implementation of these Guidelines in line with the Stop TB Strategy will accelerate the
achievement of case detection and treatment targets and thus prevent and manage drug
resistant TB and TB/HIV co-infection. These Guidelines are aimed at providing prison health
staff with the necessary information they need to tackle TB.

The Global Health Bureau, Office of Health, Infectious Disease and Nutrition (HIDN), US Agency
for International Development, financially supported this document through TB CAP under the
terms of Agreement No.GHS-A-00-05-00019-00.

The electronic version of the document is available at the TBCTA website (www.tbcta.org).

Respectfully,

Dr Masoud Dara Dr Hernan Reyes

Senior Consultant, International Unit Medical Coordinator, Health in Detention

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