GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization, WHO, reported on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, that more than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in 2023, marking the highest annual total recorded since the agency began tracking the disease.
According to the new data, approximately 1.25 million people died of TB in 2023, potentially making it the world’s leading infectious disease killer once again after COVID-19 dominated during the pandemic years.
TB deaths were nearly double those caused by HIV in the same period.
The burden of tuberculosis continues to be heaviest in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific, with India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, and Pakistan collectively accounting for over half of global cases.
“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement, expressing frustration over the preventable toll of TB.
While TB deaths are gradually declining worldwide, and new infections have shown signs of stabilising, there remain significant gaps in addressing drug-resistant TB. WHO estimates that out of approximately 400,000 cases of drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half received timely diagnosis and treatment. The airborne bacteria that cause tuberculosis primarily attack the lungs, with around a quarter of the world’s population estimated to carry TB bacteria, although only 5–10% of carriers will develop symptoms.
Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long pushed for accessible TB testing in low-income regions. The group, along with 150 global health partners, recently issued an open letter to the American company Cepheid, urging them to lower the cost of their TB diagnostic tests to $5 to improve access in poorer countries. “Prioritize people’s lives,” the letter read, underscoring the urgent need for expanded testing to control TB’s spread and impact globally.
As WHO and health organisations continue to combat TB, calls for broader access to affordable diagnostic tools have gained traction as a critical step toward reducing TB incidence and mortality in vulnerable populations.
