The fight against tuberculosis (TB) is paying off, with this year’s death rate nearly half of what it was in 1990, but 1.5 million still people died from the disease last year, with more than half occurring in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.
“Most of these deaths could have been prevented,” according to WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, which was released today in Washington, D.C.
The report said to reduce TB’s overall burden, detection and treatment gaps need to be closed, funding shortfalls filled and new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines developed.
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A child receiving Tuberculosis medicine in South Sudan under a programme supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNDP. Photo: UNDP South Sudan/Brian Sokol
Although infection rates are down, Tuberculos (TB) ranks alongside HIV as the leading cause of death from infectious disease
This year marks the deadline for the Millennium Development Goal of cutting the number of TB cases globally, set in 2000 by the UN. The World Health Organization’s annual report on the disease, out this week, says the goal has been reached. Even so, TB remains a major threat, killing 1.5 million people in 2014. The death toll for HIV was 1.2 million.
Last month, the UN set new global development targets – which include ending the global TB epidemic by 2030. This will be a massive challenge, requiring five times the current rate of decline in TB cases.
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“Most of these deaths could have been prevented,” according to WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, which was released today in Washington, D.C.
The report said to reduce TB’s overall burden, detection and treatment gaps need to be closed, funding shortfalls filled and new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines developed.
A child receiving Tuberculosis medicine in South Sudan under a programme supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNDP. Photo: UNDP South Sudan/Brian Sokol
Although infection rates are down, Tuberculos (TB) ranks alongside HIV as the leading cause of death from infectious disease
This year marks the deadline for the Millennium Development Goal of cutting the number of TB cases globally, set in 2000 by the UN. The World Health Organization’s annual report on the disease, out this week, says the goal has been reached. Even so, TB remains a major threat, killing 1.5 million people in 2014. The death toll for HIV was 1.2 million.
Last month, the UN set new global development targets – which include ending the global TB epidemic by 2030. This will be a massive challenge, requiring five times the current rate of decline in TB cases.
Read more »
