By Christy Santhosh and Sriparna Roy (Reuters) -Global tuberculosis rates fell about 2% in 2024 from the previous year, according to a World Health Organization report, after rising for three consecutive years due to COVID-related disruptions to diagnosis and treatment of the infectious disease. Most indicators of the disease burden were moving in the right […]
Health
Tuberculosis rates fall for the first time since COVID-19 pandemic, WHO report
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By Christy Santhosh and Sriparna Roy
(Reuters) -Global tuberculosis rates fell about 2% in 2024 from the previous year, according to a World Health Organization report, after rising for three consecutive years due to COVID-related disruptions to diagnosis and treatment of the infectious disease.
Most indicators of the disease burden were moving in the right direction after setbacks during the pandemic, but progress still fell short of 2030 targets, the agency said.
“Funding cuts to international aid in many low and middle income countries threaten to reverse the hard won gains,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
WHO adopted the “End TB Strategy” in 2014 and 2015 that included targets for 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2035 to sharply cut tuberculosis incidence, deaths and patient costs.
In 2024, 1.23 million people died from TB, a fall of 29% from 2015. The health agency said this was far from its goals of a 75% reduction by 2025 and a 90% lowering by 2030.
“Long-term cuts to international donor funding could result in up to 2 million additional deaths and 10 million people falling ill with TB between 2025 and 2035,” said Tereza Kasaeva, director of WHO’s division for tuberculosis, HIV and related infections.
The United States withdrew from the WHO in January, citing alleged mismanagement, creating a multi-billion-dollar gap in the agency’s 2026–27 budget and forcing a 21% cut in proposed spending.
Critical international aid, particularly from the U.S. Agency for International Development, had helped avert about 3.65 million deaths from the deadly disease last year alone, according to WHO.
WHO said the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria remained the largest international donor for low- and middle-income countries.
The UN agency said tobacco is a leading driver of the TB epidemic and urged for interventions to curb rising e-cigarette and nicotine pipe use fueled by social media influencers and false harm-reduction claims.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shailesh Kuber)