The purpose of the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC) is to de- scribe a widely accepted level of care that all practitioners, public and private, should seek to achieve in managing patients who have, or are suspected of having, tuberculosis. The Standards are intended to facilitate the ef- fective engagement of all care providers in delivering high-quality care for patients of all ages, including those with sputum smear-positive, sputum smear-negative, and extra pulmonary tuberculosis, tubercu- losis caused by drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis com- plex (M. tuberculosis) organisms, and tuberculosis combined with human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV) infection. The basic principles of care for persons with, or suspected of having, tuberculosis are the same worldwide: a diagnosis should be established promptly and accurately; standardized treatment regimens of proven effi cacy should be used with appropriate treatment support and supervision; the response to treatment should be monitored; and the essential public health respon- sibilities must be carried out. Prompt, accurate diagnosis and effective treatment are not only essential for good patient care— they are the key elements in the public health response to tu- berculosis and the cornerstone of tuberculosis control. Thus, all providers who undertake evaluation and treatment of patients with tuberculosis must recognize that, not only are they delivering care to an individual, they are assuming an important public health function that entails a high level of responsibility to the community, as well as to the individual patient.