WHO Reports Record-Breaking Rise in Global Tuberculosis Cases

GENEVA: The global number of new cases diagnosed with tuberculosis reached an unprecedented 8.2 million last year, said the World Health Organization Tuesday — the highest number ever reported since it began to track TB globally in 1995.

The Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, released by WHO today, highlights “mixed progress in the global fight against TB, with persistent challenges such as significant underfunding.”.

Deaths due to TB declined by 5% from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million last year, but the absolute number of people infected with the infectious disease rose by 10% from 7.5 million to 8.2 million.

However, not all new cases are diagnosed. According to WHO, some 10.8 million people actually contracted the disease last year.

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The fact that tuberculosis still kills and sickens so many people is a travesty when we possess the tools to prevent, detect, and treat it, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the statement.

“WHO urges all countries to live up to the concrete commitments they’ve made to increase the application of those tools, to end TB.

The report said this growth mainly reflects global population increase.

TB incidence rate in 2022 was 134 new cases per 100,000 population, a 0.2 percent increase from 2022, said the report.

The report said the disease disproportionately affects people in 30 high-burden countries.

And five countries — India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, and Pakistan – account for more than half of the global TB burden, while more than a quarter are found in India alone, according to a report.
Of these infected persons, 55 percent are men, while 33 percent are women and 12 percent were children and young adolescents.

It remains a preventable and curable disease brought about by bacteria, yet most are seen affecting the lungs, TB spreads through the air where it’s common for affected individuals who suffer from TB of the lungs to spread through coughing, sneezing, or sputum.

Global milestones and targets for reducing the TB disease burden are off-track,” the WHO said.

Only $5.7 billion of the $22 billion global annual funding target for TB prevention and care was available last year.

“In 2023, TB probably returned to being the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following three years in which it was replaced by coronavirus disease (Covid-19),” the WHO added.

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