In 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a rapid communication with key updates to its guidelines for treating drug-resistant TB. The six-month regimen — known as BPaL(M) — recommended by the WHO since 2022, remains the preferred treatment option for drug-resistant TB. The new WHO guidelines also support the use of six- and nine-month, pretomanid-sparing regimens. These alternative regimens now endorsed by the WHO are especially important for enabling children, younger adolescents, pregnant women and persons, and other populations that are otherwise excluded from access to the six-month BPaL(M) regimen to benefit from shorter treatment regimens for drug-resistant TB.

The new 2025 update of An Activist’s Guide to Shorter Treatment for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis lays out what community advocates need to know about WHO-recommended regimens for drug-resistant TB. The Activist Guide reviews the evidence-base behind these regimens, important considerations for key populations affected by TB, the access landscape, and more. The publication is intended to equip advocates with information they need to formulate arguments and push for universal implementation of the best available treatments.

To accompany the updated Activist Guide to Shorter Treatment for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, TAG also developed these Community Materials on Drug Resistant Tuberculosis.

An earlier version of this Activist’s Guide was released in 2023.