Tuberculosis and primaryhealth careSynergies and opportunities towardsuniversal health coveragePolicy brief Tuberculosis and primary health care: synergies and opportunities towards universal health coverage. Policy briefISBN (WHO) 978-92-4-011129-5 (electronic version)ISBN (WHO) 978-92-4-011130-1 (print version)© World Health Organization 2025Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence(CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo).Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work isappropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organi-zation, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under thesame or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer alongwith the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO is not responsible for thecontent or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”.Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with the mediation rules of the WorldIntellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules/).Suggested citation.Tuberculosis and primary health care: synergies and opportunities towards universal health coverage. Policybrief. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence:CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data.CIP data are available athttps://iris.who.int/.Sales, rights and licensing.To purchase WHO publications, seehttps://www.who.int/publications/book-orders. To submit requestsfor commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, seehttps://www.who.int/copyright.Third-party materials.If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images,it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtain permission from the copyright holder.The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user.General disclaimers.The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expressionof any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, orconcerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines forwhich there may not yet be full agreement.The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommendedby WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietaryproducts are distinguished by initial capital letters.All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the publishedmaterial is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation anduse of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be liable for damages arising from its use.Designed by minimum graphics ContentsAcknowledgementsAbbreviations and acronymsGlossaryHighlightsChapter 1. Background and scopeChapter 2. Synergies between the PHC approach and the TB responseChapter 3. Enablers of and barriers to synergistic actions for the PHC approach and ending TBChapter 4.Advancing towards PHC-oriented health systems for ending TBReferences Policy brief: Tuberculosis and primary health careiiivviviix17202329 ivTuberculosis and primary health care: synergies and opportunities towards universal health coverage: Policy brief“Quality tuberculosis (TB) care must be accessible to all and freefrom financial hardship, to truly achieve universal health coverage(UHC). At the same time, ending TB is intrinsically tied to eachcountry’s progress towards UHC and addressing the broadersocial and economic determinants of the TB epidemic throughcoordinated multisectoral actions.A primary health care (PHC) approach is indispensable fordelivering comprehensive TB services. In fact, TB servicecoverage can serve as a critical indicator of the effectivenessand functionality of PHC-oriented health systems in thebroader pursuit of UHC.”Dr Tereza KasaevaDirectorWorld Health Organization (WHO) Global Programme on Tuberculosisand Lung Health“Reorienting programmes focusing on specific diseases, suchas TB, towards the PHC approach goes far beyond technicalconsiderations. Successfully reorienting a system towards PHC –entailing i