Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is essential to measure the performance and assess the functioning of tuberculosis (TB) activities. It allows to detect potential problems and track progress over time.
The key element of M&E is the activity report. The report is usually produced bi-annually (e.g. from January to June and from July to December). It can also be quarterly or annual depending on context (e.g. patient load, specific issues to be monitored, national TB programme requirements).
The report should include three sections:
- Case detection and enrolment
- Treatment outcomes
- Organisation assessment.
To produce a reliable report, the necessary data on drug-susceptible TB (DS-TB) and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), including isoniazid-resistant TB (Hr-TB), multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB), pre-extensively-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) and extensively-resistant TB (XDR-TB) must be meticulously recorded in TB registers.