Tuberculosis will remain one of the main health concerns in the world for the next ten years. Economic crises in the Third World and AIDS epidemics in Africa have contributed to maintain a high level prevalence of tuberculosis in the poorest countries. Failures of tuberculosis control measures are due more often to mistakes in health planning and in health manpower training than to the lack of technologies. Short-course chemotherapy is an important technological achievement for the treatment of tuberculosis, but case holding and case finding are not efficient in several high-prevalence countries. BCG vaccination and chemoprophylaxis, especially in immunodeficient children or adults, need more evaluation studies