The recent WHO reported an increase in the number of people suffering from tuberculosis (TB); this is the first time in many years.

The World Health Organizations 2022 Global TB report estimates that 10.6 million individuals developed tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5% from 2020 and that 1.6 million people died from TB. Between 2020 and 2021, the burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) grew by 3%, with 450 000 additional cases of rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) in 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflicts in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East have adversely affected numerous services, including TB. Many TB patients were not diagnosed due to these ongoing issues accessing and providing necessary TB services.

WHO claims that decreases in the reported number of TB suggested an increase in the number of people with undiagnosed and untreated TB, which led to a rise in TB deaths and community transmission causing an increase in the number of people developing TB.

According to the report, there were 5.8 million new cases of TB reported in 2020, down from 7.1 million in 2019. Although there was a slight improvement to 6.4 million in 2021, still was well below pre-pandemic levels. It further showed that between 2019 and 2020, fewer individuals received RR-TB and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatments.

Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme said, “the report provides important new evidence and makes a strong case for the need to join forces and urgently redouble efforts to get the TB response back on track to reach TB targets and save lives.” 

(Source:https://theprint.in/world/tuberculosis-cases-surged-for-the-first-time-in-many-years-who/1185037/)