In time for World TB Day on March 24, researchers from McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center launched the BCG World Atlas: a searchable website that offers free detailed information on current and past TB vaccination policies and practices for more than 180 countries.  A paper about the BCG World Atlas is available in the March edition of the journal PLoS Medicine.

“The Atlas is designed to be a useful resource for clinicians, policymakers and researchers alike,” stated co-author Dr. Madhukar Pai in a press release. “It has important implications on diagnosing and treating TB and on the research that’s being done on developing a new TB vaccine.”  Dr. Pai is an assistant professor at McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health and a researcher in the Respiratory Epidemiology and Clinical Research Unit at the Montreal Chest Institute.

The data for the project, which began in 2007, was assembled through published papers, reports, respondent-completed questionnaires, government policy documents, and data available from the World Health Organization Vaccine Preventable Diseases Monitoring System. 

Click here to watch a short video about the BCG World Atlas: