Tuberculosis overtook COVID-19 as the leading cause of infectious disease-related deaths in 2023, according to a World Health Organization(WHO) report released on Tuesday, underscoring the ongoing challenges in the global fight to eradicate the disease.
In 2023, about 8.2 million people received a new tuberculosis diagnosis, allowing them access to appropriate treatment – the highest number recorded since WHO started global TB monitoring in 1995, up from 7.5 million in 2022, the UN agency reported.
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The data indicates that eradicating tuberculosis remains a distant goal, with the fight against the disease hindered by challenges such as chronic underfunding, as highlighted in the report.
“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 Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
Although tuberculosis-related deaths declined to 1.25 million in 2023 from 1.32 million in 2022, the total number of people contracting the disease rose slightly to an estimated 10.8 million in 2023.
The agency reported that global milestones and targets for reducing the burden of tuberculosis are off-track, with significant progress required to meet additional targets set for 2027.
Low- and middle-income countries, which account for 98% of the disease burden, are facing substantial funding shortfalls.
In 2023, the gap between the estimated number of new tuberculosis cases and those reported decreased to about 2.7 million, down from approximately 4 million during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The WHO also highlighted that the multidrug-resistant form of tuberculosis continues to pose a public health crisis.
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