Madhukar Pai, Petra Heitkamp, Yogan Pillay
Primary health care (PHC) has always been a weak spot for tuberculosis services. For various reasons, including the complexities of detecting and treating a chronic, contagious infection that often requires months of therapy, tuberculosis services have historically evolved to be run as separate, vertical services in many high-tuberculosis burden countries, such as India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. These services are typically coordinated by specialist national tuberculosis programmes, often with external donor funding, but without a strong community-based service or extensive community involvement.