Jumoke Olasunkanmi
In a year still overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis (TB) has maintained its status as the second leading infectious disease killer worldwide, following closely behind COVID-19.
Eight countries accounted for more than two-thirds of the global TB cases and deaths including India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This is according to the latest Global Tuberculosis Report for the year 2022, released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It further identified TB as the primary cause of death among individuals living with HIV, in addition to playing a substantial role in deaths associated with antimicrobial resistance.
WHO report also showed that an estimated 10.6 million individuals worldwide fell ill with TB in 2022, with a breakdown of 5.8 million men, 3.5 million women, and 1.3 million children. Notably, people living with HIV constituted 6.3% of this total.
One concerning trend highlighted in the report is the rise in the TB incidence rate, with new cases per 100,000 population per year increasing by 3.9% between 2020 and 2022.
This development marked a reversal of the previous two-decade decline of approximately 2% per year.
On a global scale in 2022, TB caused an estimated 1.30 million deaths, including 167,000 individuals with HIV. While this figure was a slight improvement from the estimates of 1.4 million deaths in 2020 and 2021, it brought TB mortality almost back to the levels observed in 2019.
Notably, eight countries accounted for more than two-thirds of the global TB cases and deaths. These countries included India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Commenting on these findings, Lucica Ditiu, the Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, acknowledged the remarkable dedication and collaboration of the global healthcare community.
“The WHO TB Report launched today tells a typical underdog story: in spite of still fighting the COVID epidemic in 2022, in spite of incredibly low financial resources and limited visibility, in spite of the disbelief of so many – our TB health care providers, TB programme managers, nurses, community workers, laboratory technicians, advocates, pharmacists and epidemiologists came together like never before and managed to diagnose and treat 7.5 million people with TB, the largest number of people with TB since 1995 when this report started being produced.”
She commended the health workers at the fore front of the fight against TB and urged governments, donors, and society at large to seize the opportunity and allocate the necessary financial resources and political commitment to finally put an end to this disease.
“So, now that we have shown what can be done – can we get the financial resources and the political commitment so that we are done once and for all with this disease? It is a matter of choice for the governments, donors, and all of us – because we know that yes, we can end TB!”
