4.2. Consensus on evidence

An essential first task for the stakeholder workshop is to present relevant evidence, describe where evidence is missing or partial, and forge consensus among participants to use information from consolidated evidence to inform discussions during the workshop.

How to Establish Consensus on Evidence

Several components should be considered when establishing consensus on evidence:

• An outline of the current TB situation and progress in ending TB at (sub) national levels to help participants understand (sub) national achievements and challenges in the TB response against the previous NSP, which may help in aligning goals and priorities and resource allocation.
• Presentation of major national findings to create an environment of evidence-based programme planning. Summarised evidence from the data consolidation should be provided to participants. This should be generated beforehand by a working group of national and regional staff working in the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) Department of the NTP as well as epidemiologists and technical staff from partner organizations. Available evidence can be based on case studies, surveys, analyses, routine surveillance data, and periodical reports (published and unpublished) which should be mapped along the care continuum. Evidence may be disaggregated geographically, by thematic area, and/or by key affected populations. Detailed information on the data consolidation process is provided in the data consolidation section.
• Partial and missing evidence should be presented by systematically reviewing available evidence against the continuum of care. All parts of the care continuum should be addressed, as part of the people-centered framework. By using the framework systematically, participants may be guided to consider not just the areas of the available evidence, but also those areas where additional evidence may be needed to guide decision-making during the new NSP implementation period. This also allows participants to submit additional evidence and information which might have eluded the NTP during the data consolidation, and allows for corrections/ updates of data/ evidence, if newer information is available.
• Interventions and strategies should be assessed during the evidence review to establish how well they align to the presented evidence, address the targeted challenges and gaps, and priorities, etc. Sources of evidence on existing and potential new interventions may include WHO recommendations, published or in-progress research, case studies, and information from innovators.
• Relevant additional frameworks and strategies should also be reviewed during the process. This could include, for example, national health sector strategy documents, multi-sectoral planning documents, international commitments, roadmaps, and/or frameworks for collaboration. Although the findings, milestones, and evaluation of these documents may already be included in the data consolidation, an overview of the frameworks and strategies themselves should be inventorised. The latter will further benefit the Global Fund funding request application process, where these documents need to be referenced as well.
• In some countries, the TB programme is combined with joint responsibility for other diseases (for example, leprosy). If this is the case and the NSP document is intended to address multiple diseases, then similar evidence (though often less information is available) can be included. This information can be analyzed along the care continuum as well.