This is the seventeenth global report on tuberculosis (TB) published by WHO in a series that started in 1997. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in implementing and financing TB prevention, care and control at global, regional and country levels using data reported by 198 countries that account for over 99% of the world's TB cases.

The introductory chapter provides general background on TB as well as an explanation of global targets for TB control, the WHO's Stop TB Strategy and the Stop TB Partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB 2011-2015. The remaining six chapters of the report cover the burden of disease caused by TB; case notifications and treatment outcomes; financing TB care and control; diagnostics and laboratory strengthening for TB; addressing the co-epidemics of TB and HIV; and research and development for new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.

The four annexes of the report include a thorough explanation of methods used to estimate the burden of disease caused by TB, one-page profiles for high TB-burden countries, and tables of data on key indicators for all countries organized by WHO region.