The EuroTB programme for the surveillance of tuberculosis in Europe was set up in 1996 to collect, analyse and disseminate data on tuberculosis cases notified in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. The objective of the programme is to obtain valid and comparable information on the epidemiology of tuberculosis in order to improve tuberculosis control in this region.

Following a feasibility study performed on cases notified in 1995 [1,2], a routine system of data collection has been implemented since 1996. The programme is managed jointly by the European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS (CESES) in Saint-Maurice, France and the Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Association (KNCV) in The Hague, the Netherlands, and is financially supported by the commission of the European Communities (DG V).

Countries of the WHO European Region are invited to participate on a voluntary basis and requested to appoint a national correspondent. The principles and methods are those recommended by a working group set up by the WHO and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) and approved by European country representatives [3,4]. The European definition of a notifiable case of tuberculosis [3,4] is used (Box 1). Information is collected on cases notified in each country during the calendar year.

In order to take into account the time required by each country to validate and close the yearly notification, data are collected 10 to 12 months after the end of the calendar year. Figures from previous years of report are not updated.

Individual anonymous computerised data are requested (Box 2) The choice of the software is left to the country concerned.

When individual data cannot be provided, countries are requested to complete pre-defined tables including the distribution of cases by categories of the relevant variables (Box 3).

Material for data collection and correspondence are prepared in English and Russian.

National correspondents are responsible for the quality of the data provided.

Notification rates of incident tuberculosis cases are calculated per 100 000 population, using United Nations demographic estimates for the year of notification [5]. Notification rates may not fully reflect true tuberculosis incidence rates due to underreporting and other problems.

Figures may slightly differ from those published by WHO [6,7] because WHO figures are collected several months prior to those collected by EuroTB, and as such, are often provisional.