the TDH is a difference basically so the sign can tell you something, normally it is something like this
TDH = Against - Aid
this means that you are going to sum all the elements against your pump and substract all the elements that help your pump (height, pressure etc)
So if you are having a very very big TDH means you need a big pump roughly speaking. If TDH is negative it means that your pump probably is not needed (maybe you want to increase pressure and the pump is then justified). However this is all about convention of signs.
Now the relation between TDH and NPSHA is that NPSHA is your "Aid- vapor pressure"