More than 8 million people will be diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2023, the World Health Organization said, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping records.
Around 1.25 million people died of tuberculosis in 2023, according to the new report, which adds that tuberculosis is likely to have once again been the main infectious disease mortal of the world after being replaced by the COVID-19 during the pandemic. Deaths are almost double those caused by HIV in 2023.
The WHO noted that tuberculosis continues to mainly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world’s cases.
The fact that tuberculosis still kills and sickens so many people is outrageous, when we have the tools to prevent, detect and treat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
However, deaths from tuberculosis continue to decline globally and the number of infected people is beginning to stabilize. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant tuberculosis in 2023, less than half were diagnosed and treated.
Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that primarily affect the lungs. It is estimated that approximately a quarter of the world’s population suffers from tuberculosis, but only 5 to 10% of that population develop symptoms.
Human rights groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long asked the American company Cepheid, which produces tuberculosis tests that are used in the poorest countriesto make them available for $5 each to increase their availability.
Doctors Without Borders and 150 global health partners sent Cepheid an open letter asking them to “they will prioritize people’s lives” and to urgently help TB testing become more common around the world.
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