A clinician’s perspective on providing TB services in the Torres Strait

For many decades, Australia has been fortunate to have a low prevalence of tuberculosis (TB).1 This has resulted from a firm commitment to screening for and managing TB since early last century. Because of the low rates of disease, the current population, unfortunately, perceives TB to be a “disease of the past”. Such a perception leads to complacency, even among subgroups of policymakers, who place importance on short-sighted spending cuts over long-term TB control in an era in which drug-resistant TB is an emerging biosecurity threat to Australia.