Fig. 1

Components needed to make a strong value-for-money case to invest in active case finding (ACF) for tuberculosis. In general, ACF programs have capacity to evaluate their short-term outcomes (such as the number of diagnoses made or treatments initiated) and costs; these components are indicated by solid green boxes. Implementing partners can also generally estimate specific quantities regarding the populations being screened (shown in dotted green boxes). What is therefore needed is scientific consensus (shown in grey circular arrows) regarding which costs to measure and how to convert costs, short-term outcomes, and population characteristics into estimates of long-term effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and judgments of whether cost-effectiveness estimates meet criteria for action. Abbreviations: DALY, disability-adjusted life year; QALY, quality-adjusted life year