Countries across the globe are falling short of their targets to beat tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation warned yesterday.
The publication of new WHO data reveals “dismal progress in the TB response is a tragedy for the millions of people”, according to one leading campaigner in the organisation.
The 2016 Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report shows that countries must work more quickly to prevent, detect and treat the disease if they are to meet a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction in TB cases by 2030 compared with 2015.
Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director General, said: “We face an uphill battle to reach the global targets for tuberculosis. There must be a massive scale-up of efforts, or countries will continue to run behind this deadly epidemic and these ambitious goals will be missed.”
Although more than three million lives were saved in 2015, the report shows that the TB burden is higher than previously estimated.
In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide and just six countries – India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa – accounted for 60% of these.
And although global TB deaths fell by 22% between 2000 and 2015, the disease was one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2015, responsible for more deaths than HIV and malaria.
WHO estimates that 480 000 people fell ill with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2015, with India, China, and the Russian Federation accounting for almost half of all cases globally.
Only one in five of the people newly eligible for second-line treatment were able to access it in 2015, and cure rates continue to remain low globally at 52%.
“The dismal progress in the TB response is a tragedy for the millions of people suffering from this disease,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Global TB Programme.
“To save more lives now, we must get newly recommended rapid tests, drugs and regimens to those who need them. Current actions and investments fall far short of what is needed. The world is finally waking up to the threat of antimicrobial resistance – now is the time to accelerate the MDR-TB response.”
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