Reframing TB care: a perspective on multimorbidity-centered care for people with TB
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Tabackman, Alexa
Cowan, Sadie
Calderwood, Claire
Sinha, Pranay
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) rarely occurs in isolation; most people with TB experience multiple coexisting conditions, including HIV, diabetes, undernutrition, depression, and substance use disorders, which worsen disease severity and compromise treatment outcomes. Although the World Health Organization has issued disease-specific guidance for managing key comorbidities, TB care remains largely siloed and poorly equipped to address the growing burden of multimorbidity, particularly in African health systems. In this perspective article, we propose a phased framework for multimorbidity-centered TB care. The first phase emphasizes systematic screening for common comorbidities and establishment of basic referral pathways. The second phase focuses on strengthening coordination between TB programs and existing health and social services, including task sharing and longitudinal follow-up. The third phase advances toward fully integrated, co-located, multidisciplinary models of care that embed TB services within broader multimorbidity platforms. Together, this framework offers a pragmatic roadmap for TB programs to deliver more person-centered, equitable, and efficient care, strengthen primary care systems, and accelerate progress toward ending TB as a public health threat in Africa.
Date Issued
2026-01-29
Date Acceptance
2026-01-27
Citation
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 2026, 11 (2)
ISSN
2414-6366
Publisher
MDPI AG
Journal / Book Title
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
Volume
11
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/41746007
PII: tropicalmed11020037
Subjects
multidisciplinary care
multimorbidity
tuberculosis
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Switzerland
Article Number
37
Date Publish Online
2026-01-29