Universal health coverage and social support in Senegal: a comprehensive approach against tuberculosis

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently launched the “End TB Strategy” [1] and, in collaboration with the European Respiratory Society, launched the framework for tuberculosis (TB) elimination in low-incidence countries [2]. Both documents focus on ending the global TB epidemic by 2035, through stimulating collaborative actions at country level and increased cooperation between high and low TB-incidence countries [3–5]. The world is a global village, where the increasing cross-border and cross-continental movement of people enables infectious diseases like TB to spread across communities and countries [6, 7]. No nation is immune to the threat of infectious outbreaks [8, 9], and a significant reduction of TB burden in low-incidence countries will not be possible unless TB care and prevention is also consistently scaled-up in high TB-incidence countries [5]. This interdependency calls for joint collaborative actions involving governments, governmental and nongovernmental agencies, civil society, and communities, families and individuals. Social support and complementary monetary incentives may add significant value to TB control programmes