Tuberculosis cases hit record high: WHO

A record 8.2 million new tuberculosis cases were diagnosed worldwide last year, the World Health Organization said -- the highest number since it began global TB monitoring in 1995.

The WHO said its Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, released Tuesday, highlights "mixed progress in the global fight against TB, with persistent challenges such as significant underfunding".

While the number of TB-related deaths declined from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million last year, the total number of people contracting the infectious disease increased from 7.5 million to 8.2 million.

However, not all new cases are diagnosed, and WHO estimates that around 10.8 million people actually contracted the disease last year.

Preventable deaths

"The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

"WHO urges all countries to make good on the concrete commitments they have made to expand the use of those tools, and to end TB."

The increase in cases between 2022 and 2023 largely reflects global population growth, the report said.

Last year the TB incidence rate was 134 new cases per 100,000 people -- a 0.2-percent increase compared to 2022.

Five countries; more than half of cases

The disease disproportionately affects people in 30 high-burden countries.

And five countries -- India, Indonesia, China, Philippines and Pakistan -- account for more than half of the global TB burden, with more than a quarter of the cases found in India alone.

According to the report, 55 percent of people who developed TB were men, 33 percent were women and 12 percent were children and young adolescents.

A preventable and curable disease, TB is caused by bacteria and most often affects the lungs. It is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit.

Global milestones off-track

The WHO said a significant number of new TB cases were driven by five major risk factors: undernutrition, HIV infection, alcohol use disorders, diabetes, and, especially among men, smoking.

"Global milestones and targets for reducing the TB disease burden are off-track," the WHO said.

Only $5.7 billion of the $22 billion global annual funding target for TB prevention and care was available last year.

"In 2023, TB probably returned to being the world's leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following three years in which it was replaced by coronavirus disease (Covid-19)," the WHO added.