The problem

Tuberculosis continues to cause more deaths each year than any other infectious disease. An estimated 10.6 million people contracted the disease in 2022, about 40% of whom went undiagnosed, and therefore untreated. With prompt diagnosis and treatment, TB is usually a curable disease. However, no single TB diagnostic tool is currently suitable for all settings and populations, further complicating access.

Our response

By combining diagnostic screening and testing approaches and evaluating their effectiveness, the START 4-ALL project will determine the most accurate, feasible, acceptable and cost-effective solutions to improve access to TB diagnosis closer to where people first seek out care. The goal is to reach more people in less time with TB prevention or treatment.

• Screen: Rapidly increase TB screening at the local level to reach the large number of people who go undiagnosed.
• Treat: Connect more people with critical TB treatment by increasing access to TB testing.
• Scale up: Mobilize government, community and civil society to drive demand for novel tools and testing combinations.

Working jointly with FIND through another Unitaid-funded initiative, LSTM will integrate new diagnostic technologies into combination approaches to introduce new products as they become available.