Some 8.2 million new cases of tuberculosis were diagnosed worldwide in 2023, the highest number ever recorded since WHO began monitoring nearly 30 years ago.
The World Health Organization's annual report on tuberculosis, published on October 29, highlights " Mixed progress in the global fight against the disease, with persistent challenges including major underfunding" she says in a statement.
While the number of tuberculosis deaths declined from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million in 2023, the total number of people contracting the disease increased. Nearly 8.2 million new cases were diagnosed in 2023, the highest since monitoring began in 1995.
This is a " Increase in the number of people who are able to pay for a home loan is a notable example. " compared to the 7.5 million cases reported in 2022, and as a result TB is once again the infectious disease causing the highest number of deaths, surpassing Covid-19, the WHO says. However, not all new cases are diagnosed and the WHO estimates that around 10.8 million people actually contracted the disease last year.
“ It is a scandal that tuberculosis continues to infect and kill so many people, even though we have the tools to prevent, detect and treat it.", WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the statement. WHO urges all countries to deliver on concrete commitments to scale up use of these tools and end TB" he said.
The increase in cases between 2022 and 2023 largely reflects population growth, according to the report. The tuberculosis incidence rate (new cases per 100,000 population) in 2023 was 134, a very small increase (0.2%) compared to 2022.
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Above all 30 countries concerned
Most of the people who develop TB each year are in 30 countries. And five countries together accounted for 56% of the global total last year: India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.8%) and Pakistan (6.3%). According to the report, 55% of the people who developed the disease were men, 33% were women and 12% were children or young adolescents.
WHO also highlights that the therapeutic success rate in the treatment of multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant (MDR-RR) tuberculosis has now reached 68%, compared to 64% in 2020 and 50% in 2012. But of the estimated 400,000 people who developed MDR-RR tuberculosis, only 44% were diagnosed and treated in 2023.
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