Cases are on a downward trajectory for the first time since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
But a new report reveals that while progress has been made in the global fight against the disease, funding gaps are putting hard-won gains at risk.
Funding gaps threaten progress
“Declines in the global burden of TB and advances in testing, treatment, social protection and research are all welcome news after years of setbacks, but progress is not victory,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“The fact that TB continues to claim over a million lives each year, despite being preventable and curable, is simply unconscionable.”
WHO says global funding for TB has stagnated since 2020, with only $5.9 billion available in 2024 – well below the annual target of $22 billion for 2027 – raising concerns cuts could cause up to two million extra deaths and 10 million cases in the next decade.
Global decline
Between 2023 and 2024, the global proportion of people falling ill with TB fell by almost two percent, while deaths fell by three percent.
“The number of people being tested and treated is increasing and the research is moving forward,” said Dr. Tedros.
From last year, over half of the population worldwide is covered by rapid tests54 percent, up from 48 percent in 2023. In addition, the treatment experienced an 88 percent success rate, according to the report.
Some regions have been more successful than others in reducing the incidence of TB.
Between 2015 and 2024, WHO African region managed to reduce the number of obscenities by 28 percent, and deaths from the disease decreased by 46 percent.
The European region saw a 39 percent drop in incidence and a 49 percent reduction in deaths.
But by 2024, 87 percent of the global number of people who developed TB concentrated in 30 countrieswhere social protection remains very unequal, the report states.
