Introduction Alberto L. García-Basteiro1,2,3, Füsun Öner Eyüboğlu 4 and Molebogeng X. Rangaka 5,6,7 1 ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic -Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 2 Centro de Investigação em Saude de Manhiça (CISM), Maputo, Mozambique. 3 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Barcelona, Spain. 4 Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Başkent University Hospital, Ankara, Turkiye. 5 Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK. 6 CIDRI-AFRICA, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. 7 School of Public Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Corresponding author: Molebogeng X. Rangaka (l.rangaka@ucl.ac.uk) @ERSpublications This timely and important Monograph provides a crucial update on recent changes, developments and setbacks in the field, and calls for a re-commitment to the achievement of the End TB Strategy and Sustainable Development Goals https://bit.ly/ERSM101intro Copyright ©ERS 2023. Print ISBN: 978-1-84984-169-6. Online ISBN: 978-1-84984-170-2. Print ISSN: 2312-508X. Online ISSN: 2312-5098. Priorities to bend the TB epidemic curve towards elimination The WHO Global End TB Strategy, launched in 2015, sets priorities and specific targets aimed at reducing TB incidence and mortality to end the TB epidemic and eliminate disease-associated economic hardship worldwide by 2030 [1]. Its three main pillars are: integrated patient-centred care and prevention bold policies and supportive systems and intensified research and innovation [1]. Regional and national elimination strategies have been developed to set targets and achieve these priorities. These enable region-specific TB control activities based on the local epidemiology and contextual factors. For example, the WHO TB action plan for the WHO European Region, provides strategies to allow Europe to reach the global End TB Strategy targets to reduce TB incidence by 80% and TB deaths by 90% by 2030 [2]. Resolutions adopted by member states at the first ever United Nations (UN) high level meeting (UNHLM) political declaration on TB in 2018 set the scene for bold policies and further sharpened the global focus on the priorities of the End TB Strategy, to accelerate adoption of specific strategies. Member states endorsed a declaration on TB that included targets to treat 40 million people with TB between 2018 and 2022, 3.5 million children with TB and 1.5 million people with DR-TB, and for ⩾30 million put on TPT during that period [3]. Recent advances in TB research Innovative research is required to develop and assess new tools for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB. To realise reductions in the burden of disease and reach the targets set by the international community (reduction in mortality, incidence and no households facing catastrophic costs), there is an urgent need to innovate. Specifically, we need acceleration of research and development in new effective TB vaccines, rapid and easy-to-use point-of-care diagnostics for TB, new drugs and shorter treatment regimens for both infection and disease, as https://doi.org/10.1183/2312508X.10025822 xiii