Threat to global TB progress

Global goals

In 2014 and 2015, all WHO and UN member states adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO Strategy for Ultimate TB. The SDGs and the TB End Strategy include targets and milestones to greatly reduce the incidence of TB, TB deaths, and the costs faced by TB patients and their households.

TB is included in Goal 3 Objective 3.3. Sustainable development goals whose goal is to “stop epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases” by 2030.

WHO Strategy for Combating Tuberculosis aims to reduce TB mortality by 90 percent and reduce TB morbidity rates by 80 percent by 2030 from the 2015 baseline. The milestones for 2020 include a 20% reduction in the incidence of TB and a 35% reduction in TB mortality.

Efforts to strengthen political commitment to the fight against TB intensified in 2017 and 2018, culminating in September 2018, with the first high-level meeting on TB in the UN General Assembly. The result was a political declaration reaffirming the commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals and the TB Strategy. The UN Political Declaration on Tuberculosis also included 4 new targets for the period 2018-2022:

• Treat 40 million people with TB
• Reach at least 30 million people with preventive TB treatment for latent TB infection
• Mobilize at least $ 13 billion annually for universal access to tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment, and care
• Mobilize at least $ 2 billion a year for TB research

Progress towards global goals

According to a new report, the WHO European Region is on track to achieve the key goals of the WHO Strategy for the Completion of TB for 2020, with a reduction in incidence and mortality of 19% and 31%, respectively, in the last five years. The African region also achieved impressive gains, with corresponding reductions of 16% and 19% over the same time frame. However, globally, the pace of progress has lagged behind and critical milestones by 2020 on the TB Strategy will be missed.

Financing

As in previous years, most of the funds available for TB (85%) in 2020 came from domestic sources, and Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa provided 57% of the total. International donor funding increased from $ 900,000 in 2019 to $ 1 billion in 2020. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was the largest source of international TB funding in 2020, while the United States and further the largest bilateral donor of efforts to stop TB.

Research and innovation

Achieving the global TB targets by 2030 will require technological discoveries by 2025. The world needs affordable and accessible rapid care tests, as well as new, safer and more effective treatments and vaccines. To address these challenges, Member States have called on the WHO in 2018 to develop a Global Strategy for TB Research and Innovation that sets out the key steps that governments and non-state actors can take. The strategy was adopted by the World Health Assembly in August 2020.

Multisectoral action and responsibility

Further progress in eliminating TB will depend on action in all sectors, emphasizing the importance of implementing the WHO’s multisectoral framework of responsibility for TB. In 2019 and 2020, the WHO worked with countries with a high TB ​​burden to ensure that accountability mechanisms were included in national budget planning and evaluation during high-level missions and joint reviews of TB programs with the involvement of civil society representatives.

Facts About TB

Tuberculosis (TB), the world’s deadliest infectious killer, is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) which most commonly affect the lungs. It can spread when people with TB throw bacteria into the air – for example by coughing.

Approximately 90 percent of TB patients live in 30 countries each year. Most people who develop the disease are adults, and there are more cases among men than women.

TB can be prevented and cured. About 85% of people who develop TB can be successfully treated with a 6-month treatment regimen; treatment has the added benefit of reducing further transmission of the infection.

Since 2000, TB treatment has prevented more than 60 million deaths – although access to universal health care is still lacking, many millions have also missed diagnosis and care.