Krachten bundelen voor betere tuberculosebestrijding

The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the Netherlands is declining every year. We fear there may be a loss of knowledge and awareness of detecting TB in the new generation of medical specialists. As medical specialists a great challenge lies before us in maintaining the quality of TB control in the Netherlands. Collaboration between pulmonologist, infectious disease specialist, microbiologist and the public health services is a necessity. Here we describe how, in the region of Arnhem, we work closely with these medical specialists based on structural multidisciplinary meetings. We also describe two of the quality indicators − doctor’s delay and HIV testing policy − which are included in the national plan for TB control for 2016-2020. We explain how we intend to maintain and improve the quality of TB control by means of our structural meetings and collaboration.

Conflict of interest and financial support: ICMJE forms provided by the authors are available online along with the full text of this article.