LONDON – The global fight against tuberculosis (TB), hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, is beginning to fall far short of its goal, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In the first two years of the pandemic, there were about 4 million “missing” TB patients per year, that is, other people who developed TB but were not diagnosed or treated. That gap narrowed to about 3. 1 million in 2022, according to the UN. Estimates from the agency’s annual report, returning to the pre-pandemic point of 2019.
However, a lack of investment and focus continues to cripple efforts to end what has been described as the “pandemic of the poor. “Tuberculosis, an infectious disease that attacks the lungs, can be prevented and cured.
In total, an estimated 10. 6 million people contracted TB in 2022, up from 10. 3 million in 2021. But 7. 5 million were diagnosed, meaning they were able to access appropriate treatment, the highest number since surveillance began in 1995, the WHO said.
TB-related deaths also decreased slightly, from 1. 4 million in 2021 to 1. 3 million in 2022. The disease continues to be overtaken by Covid-19 as the world’s deadliest infectious disease, with India, Indonesia and the Philippines being the most affected by TB.
The multidrug-resistant form of the disease also remains a significant threat to public health, the WHO said, and only two in five people can get the remedy they need.
But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is hope after millennia of suffering, thanks to advances in diagnostics, drugs and the first new vaccine in 100 years in the latter stages of trials.
“We have the opportunity . . . to write the ultimate break in the history of tuberculosis,” he said in an emailed statement.
However, the firm claimed that this would require “all hands on deck,” given a number of missed targets during the 2015-2022 era, adding funding, diagnosis rates, and reducing deaths. A high-level assembly of the United Nations in September set new targets for the 2023 to 2027 era.
READ ALSO: TB deaths have surged during pandemic, reversing years of decline, says WHO