"Given the absence of international guidelines on the joint management and control of TB and diabetes, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (the Union) identified key questions to be answered and commissioned systematic reviews of studies addressing those questions. A series of expert consultations were organized to assess the findings of the systematic reviews and a guideline group was established to develop this provisional collaborative framework. The framework aims to guide national programmes, clinicians and others engaged in care of patients and prevention and control of diabetes and TB on how to establish a coordinated response to both diseases, at organizational and clinical levels. The framework is based on evidence collated from systematic reviews and existing guidelines on the diagnosis and management of TB and diabetes. The systematic reviews confirmed the weak evidence base for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of collaborative interventions. The framework is therefore provisional; several of its recommendations are provisional pending better evidence. In order to provide advice on how to fill the knowledge gaps, the framework includes a list of priority research areas."--Page vii-viii.