The BCG World Atlas: A Database of Global BCG Vaccination Policies and Practices

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major causes of infectious morbidity and mortality globally, claiming millions of lives every year. Approximately one-third of the world’s population is estimated to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, giving rise to 9.4 million new cases of active TB disease each year [1]. The majority of the TB burden exists in 22 high-burden countries, but with immigration and global travel TB is difficult to eliminate from any one country [1–4]. The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, first introduced in 1921, continues to be the only vaccine used to prevent TB [5,6]. Despite nearly a century of use, BCG remains controversial, with known variations in BCG substrains, vaccine efficacy, policies, and practices across the world. Global information on BCG policies and practices may be useful for clinical interpretation of diagnostic tests as well as in the design of novel TB vaccines that are under development.