Table 1.

WHO definitions of TB treatment outcomes

Outcome	Definitions
Cured	A pulmonary TB patient with bacteriologically-confirmed TB at the beginning of treatment who was smear or culture-negative in the last month of treatment and on at least one previous occasion.
Treatment completed	A TB patient who completed treatment without evidence of failure BUT with no record to show that sputum smear or culture results in the last month of treatment and on at least one previous occasion were negative either because tests were not done or because results were unavailable.
Treatment failed	A TB patient whose sputum smear or culture was positive at five months or later during treatment.
Died	A TB patient who died for any reason before starting or during the course of treatment
Lost-to-follow up	A TB patient who did not start treatment or whose treatment was interrupted for two consecutive months or more.
Not evaluated	A TB patient for whom no treatment outcome was assigned. This included cases “transferred out” to another treatment unit as well as cases for which the treatment outcome is unknown to the reporting unit.
Treatment success	The sum of cured and treatment completed