The number of people testing positive for tuberculosis worldwide is rising, with 8.2 million people having been diagnosed with this infectious disease in 2023, according to the latest report from the World Health Organization. The 2024 Global Tuberculosis Report indicates that the number of TB cases recorded last year was the highest since the UN health agency started to track this disease in 1995.
The number of people diagnosed with TB in 2023 increased by 700,000 from the figures recorded between 2020 and 2022. The 2023 figure is over a million higher than the number of people who newly tested positive for TB before the pandemic in 2019. This increase could possibly be partly attributed to a significant number of people having developed TB but who were not diagnosed and treated due to the disruptions to healthcare services caused by COVID-19, the report’s authors noted.
The disease spreads through droplets that are expelled into the air when people with the disease cough, spit or sneeze, with poverty, malnutrition, old age, and HIV being responsible for accelerating the progress of the disease which damages the lungs.
Almost 90% of those who became ill with the disease in 2023 were in the 30 countries with the highest TB burden with five countries, India, Indonesia, China, Philippines and Pakistan, sharing 56% of the burden. Other countries that had large numbers of people falling sick with TB last year were Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
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The report reveals that six million of those who fell ill with the disease were men, over three million and a half were women, and more than one million were children. Each year, around 90% of people who develop TB are adults, the majority of them men.
People killed by TB
Just 6% of those who developed TB last year were living with HIV and while the number of HIV-positive people who develop TB has been falling over the years, the proportion of people living with HIV and experiencing fresh episodes of this disease is highest in parts of Africa.
It is estimated that TB killed over 1.2 million people in 2023 – and this includes more than one million HIV-free people and 160,000 HIV-positive people. However, this number was over 100,000 fewer than deaths caused by TB before the pandemic in 2019.
Given the number of people who tested positive for TB last year, the UN health agency confirms that tuberculosis has once again become the top infectious killer disease, retaking its position from coronavirus disease which was the leading cause of death for three years. In 2023, TB killed nearly twice as many people as HIV/AIDS.
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TB has regained its position as the leading killer at a time when global progress in the combat against the disease is slow. For instance, between 2015 and 2023, the number of people becoming sick with the disease declined by just over 8% although the target is a 50% reduction by 2025.
Similarly, the reduction in the number of deaths caused by TB over the same period was just 23%, which is far from the 75% target by 2025. The TB report states that the African and European regions made the greatest progress in reducing the number of people falling sick and dying of TB.
Around a quarter of the world’s eight billion people have TB although not everyone who becomes infected with the disease actually develops tuberculosis. The UN health agency states the risk of infection evolving into TB is highest two years after initial exposure. Beyond this period, the risk is significantly lower, and for some people, the infection will have cleared. However, up to 10% of people who are infected with this disease – especially those with weakened immunities – will develop TB and can die if not treated appropriately.
The TB report indicates that households affected by TB in low and middle-income nations shoulder a heavy burden of high TB-related medical costs amidst shrinking global financing for the fight against TB. The fact that some people have drug-resistant TB not only further strains already burdened households but also health care systems too.
The international targets to end the TB epidemic are not on track. To achieve these targets, the UN is urging countries and partners to turn the commitments reached at a special meeting on TB last year, such as additional funding for the TB response, into concrete actions.
