📅 October 8, 2025 | Geneva
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
Reading Time: 2 min

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new global recommendations addressing the link between tuberculosis (TB) and undernutrition, recognizing poor nutrition as one of the strongest drivers of TB worldwide. The update, part of WHO’s Consolidated Guidelines on Tuberculosis: Module 6 – Tuberculosis and Comorbidities, calls for stronger integration of nutritional care and food assistance within TB prevention and treatment programs.

Undernutrition weakens immunity, increases vulnerability to TB, and worsens recovery outcomes. WHO’s new approach promotes a people-centered model of care that tackles the social and nutritional roots of the disease as part of the End TB Strategy.

Key Recommendations

• 🥣 Nutritional assessment and counselling for all people with TB and their household contacts.
• 🩺 Nutritional support for TB patients with undernutrition, regardless of age, pregnancy, or disease severity.
• 🍚 Food assistance for household contacts of TB patients in food-insecure communities, based on findings from the RATIONS Trial (The Lancet, 2023).

“Tuberculosis thrives on inequality, with undernutrition as a major driver,” said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Department for HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, and STIs. “Integrating nutrition into comprehensive TB care is essential to breaking the cycle of disease and poverty.”

The new guidelines emphasize collaboration between health ministries, nutrition programs, and social welfare agencies to ensure effective country-level implementation. WHO will release an operational handbook alongside the guidelines to support practical application and coordination.

This update builds on earlier TB comorbidity guidelines and expands WHO’s focus beyond HIV-related TB to include nutrition-related determinants of the disease.