There is “new momentum” globally to tackle the resurgence of drug-resistant TB, the World Health Organisation has reported.
Deaths from TB have fallen in the past year – but drug-resistant TB remains a “public health crisis,” WHO stated in its annual report of the subject.
According to the report, some 1.6 million people died from the disease, of whom 300,000 were HIV-positive.
Globally some ten million people may have contracted the disease last year, a reduction of 2%. Rates of incidence are falling fastest in Europe (5%) and Africa (4%), WHO reported.
However among new cases, 558,000 people are thought to have developed disease that was resistant at least rifampicin. Most had multi-drug resistant disease, WHO said.
WHO says that only a third of those who contract the disease are diagnosed and reported, including fewer than half of the child victims. Just 6.4 million cases were recorded in official statistics last year.
It believes that under-reporting is highest in India, Indonesia and Nigeria.
The WHO report warns that at least 5.4 billion dollars extra is needed by 2020 to tackle the problem of TB.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We have never seen such high-level political attention and understanding of what the world needs to do to end TB and drug-resistant TB.
“We must capitalise on this new momentum and act together to end this terrible disease.”
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