Translated with AI
The World Health Organization (WHO) published its annual Global Tuberculosis Report on Wednesday, warning that despite significant advances in diagnosis, treatment, and innovation, funding shortages and unequal access to care could reverse this progress, the UN press service reported.
According to the WHO, tuberculosis claimed more than 1.2 million lives and affected about 10.7 million people last year, remaining one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world.
Reducing the global burden of tuberculosis
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the decline in the global burden of tuberculosis and progress in testing, treatment, and social protection are encouraging news after years of setbacks. However, he said, "progress is not victory," and the fact that the disease continues to claim lives annually, despite its preventability and curability, is "inexcusable." WHO calls on countries to accelerate efforts to end tuberculosis by 2030.
According to the report, between 2023 and 2024, the number of tuberculosis cases decreased by almost two percent, and mortality by three percent. This demonstrates the restoration of key health services after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Progress is particularly noticeable in the WHO African and European Regions: from 2015 to 2024, incidence rates in Africa decreased by 28 percent and mortality by 46 percent; in Europe, by 39 percent and 49 percent, respectively. More than 100 countries have achieved a 20 percent reduction in incidence rates, and 65 countries have achieved a 35 percent or more reduction in mortality, achieving the first targets of the WHO End TB Strategy.
However, global elimination of the disease is impossible without accelerated progress in countries with the highest burden. In 2024, 87 percent of all new TB cases were reported in 30 countries, with eight of them—India, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bangladesh—accounting for 67 percent of the total.
Timely treatment saves lives
Since 2000, timely treatment has saved approximately 83 million lives. In 2024, 8.3 million people received treatment, accounting for 78 percent of all cases. Rapid diagnostic testing was used to detect 54 percent of cases, and the treatment success rate for susceptible forms of tuberculosis reached 88 percent.
Among 30 countries with a high TB burden, social protection coverage ranges from 3.1 percent in Uganda to 94 percent in Mongolia, and in 19 countries it is less than 50 percent. The report also highlights the role of risk factors—malnutrition, HIV, diabetes, smoking, and alcohol—and the need for a multisectoral approach to combating the epidemic.
Funding shortfall
However, progress remains far from the goals set out in the WHO strategy. Tuberculosis funding has stalled: only $5.9 billion has been accumulated by 2024 – just over a quarter of the $22 billion target.
Cutting international aid from 2025 could lead to two million additional deaths and ten million new cases by 2035. Research funding is also lagging: in 2023, it was $1.2 billion—only 24 percent of the target. Nevertheless, by August 2025, 63 new diagnostic tests, 29 drugs, and 18 vaccines were in development.
"We have entered a critical phase in the fight against tuberculosis," said Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Department of HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, and Sexually Transmitted Infections. She emphasized that funding cuts and persistent risk factors threaten the progress made, but with political will, investment, and global solidarity, humanity can overcome this ancient disease.
