World Tuberculosis Day 2024: many more TB cases could be prevented
24 March 2024, Cairo, Egypt – Tuberculosis (TB) is still one of the world’s deadliest diseases, although it is both preventable and curable. Today, on World Tuberculosis Day, WHO and partners worldwide unite to renew the commitment to end the global TB pandemic.
Every year, 10 million people globally fall ill with TB. An infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs but can attack any part of the body. Despite being preventable and curable, TB kills 1.5 million people each year – making it the world’s top infectious killer. TB is also the leading cause of death among people living with HIV and a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance globally. In 2022, in our Region, 856 000 people fell ill with TB and 84 000 died of TB. which accounted for 8% and 7% of the global incident cases and deaths.
In order to stop TB infection from progressing to active TB disease, we need preventive treatment
Yet uptake of TB preventive treatment in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region is still low. In 2022, only 5% of eligible contacts of TB patients and 8% of people living with HIV received this treatment. This is largely due to lack of awareness among the public and health professionals, inadequate local funding, ongoing conflicts, limited screening, and stigma associated with TB. For these reasons, among others, many people in the Region unnecessarily develop the disease.
Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, set out the way ahead: “Despite daunting challenges, we are committed to increase and expand