HQ Team
November 8, 2023: Last year about 7.5 million people had tuberculosis (TB), the world’s second-most infectious killer, and multi-drug resistant form of the disease remains a health crisis, the WHO stated.
The figures are the highest ever since the UN agency began global monitoring in 1995. The agency attributed the rise in diagnosis to recovery in access and the provision of health services in many countries.
Though the disease was bouncing back from disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, more efforts were needed to end it, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report, which features data from 192 nations.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. It is caused by a type of bacteria and spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit. The disease is both preventable and curable.
India, Indonesia
India, Indonesia and the Philippines together accounted for over 60% of the global reduction in new diagnoses in 2020 and 2021. They “all recovered to beyond 2019 levels last year.”
“We have political commitment, and we have an opportunity that no generation in the history of humanity has had: the opportunity to write the final chapter in the story of TB,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, said.
Multidrug-resistant TB remained a public health crisis, according to the report.
Last year, an estimated 410,000 people developed it or another type that is resistant to the antibiotic rifampicin. Only two in five accessed treatment.
HIV-infected people
Although there was some progress in the development of new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines “this is constrained by the overall level of investment in these areas,” the WHO stated.
Globally, an estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with TB in 2022, up from 10.3 million the previous year.
The majority were in the WHO Regions of Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific, which together accounted for nearly 90%. Smaller proportions were reported in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Americas, and Europe.
The total number of TB-related deaths, including those among people with HIV, stood at 1.3 million in 2022, down from 1.4 million the year before.
However, Covid-19 disruptions resulted in nearly half a million more deaths from TB during the period from 2020-2022, and the disease continues to be the leading killer among people with HIV.
Progress insufficient
Global efforts to combat TB have saved over 75 million lives since the year 2000 and action must be stepped up.
Despite the significant recovery in 2022, progress was insufficient to meet global targets set in 2018, with pandemic-related disruptions and ongoing conflicts being major contributing factors.
The new targets set by the WHO include reaching 90% of people in need of TB prevention and care services, using a WHO-recommended rapid test as the first method of diagnosis and providing all patients with a health and social benefits package.
The WHO called for ensuring the availability of at least one new safe and effective TB vaccine and closing funding gaps.
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