New Book Maps the Obstacles Standing Between the World and Tuberculosis Elimination

“Can We Eradicate Tuberculosis? A Review of Obstacles to Eliminate the Disease,” released by Bentham Science Publishers, takes a comprehensive look at why the disease continues to pose a significant global health challenge despite decades of research and public health interventions.

The book examines the persistent barriers to TB elimination across medical, socioeconomic, cultural, and healthcare-system dimensions. Rather than treating the disease as a purely biological problem, it argues that the continued spread of tuberculosis is shaped by conditions far beyond the laboratory: poverty, overcrowding, malnutrition, limited access to healthcare, diagnostic delays, difficulties with treatment adherence, inadequate funding, and drug resistance all feature prominently in its analysis.

According to the publisher’s description, the book provides an in-depth examination of why tuberculosis remains difficult to eliminate even with established diagnostic and treatment approaches already in place.

Moving beyond a purely biomedical perspective, the book highlights the relationship between social conditions, healthcare infrastructure, and the effectiveness of TB control programs. It also considers opportunities to strengthen prevention, improve early diagnosis and treatment, raise public awareness, and promote coordinated action among healthcare professionals, policymakers, and public health organizations.

Among its key features, the book examines the major obstacles to global tuberculosis elimination, explores the biological, social, economic, and cultural factors contributing to the persistence of TB, and discusses healthcare-system limitations, diagnostic gaps, and barriers to treatment adherence.

The book also highlights opportunities for improved prevention, public health policy, healthcare delivery, and international collaboration. By bringing these interconnected challenges into focus, the publisher states, the book offers insights for professionals working to improve tuberculosis control and advance evidence-based public health strategies.

The author is Dr. Rafael Laniado-Laborín, a Professor of Medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Mexico and a pulmonologist at Tijuana General Hospital. He brings more than 40 years of clinical experience in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment to the project, with research focused on drug-resistant tuberculosis, molecular diagnosis, and TB epidemiology. He has contributed to World Health Organization guidelines on drug-resistant tuberculosis and has served as Chair of the WHO Regional Green Light Committee of the Americas.

The intended readership spans public health professionals, epidemiologists, physicians, tuberculosis researchers, policymakers, healthcare administrators, and students of public health and global health. The publisher also notes relevance for professionals involved in infectious disease management, tuberculosis prevention programs, and the development of healthcare policies.

The book’s central message is that eliminating tuberculosis will require more than new drugs or diagnostics. It demands coordinated action on the social determinants that fuel transmission, stronger healthcare systems capable of finding and treating cases promptly, sustained funding, and international cooperation. The book is available through the publisher, with a DOI of 10.2174/97988988178001260101.

Subject of Research: Obstacles to global tuberculosis elimination, including social, economic and healthcare-system factors

Article Title: Can we eradicate tuberculosis? A review of obstacles to eliminate the disease

Article References: Can we eradicate tuberculosis? A review of obstacles to eliminate the disease. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: tuberculosis, public health, drug-resistant TB, global health, healthcare systems, poverty, diagnosis, treatment adherence, epidemiology, Bentham Science, book announcement, health policy