Global TB Deaths on the Rise
According to the World Health Organization’s 2021 Global TB report., released on Oct. 14, 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of global progress in addressing tuberculosis . For the first time in more than a decade, TB deaths have increased, even as the incidence rate has declined.
In 2020, more people died from TB, with far fewer people being diagnosed and treated or provided with TB preventive treatment compared with 2019, with overall spending on essential TB services declining. In many countries, including the United States, resources have been reallocated to the COVID-19 response, limiting the availability of essential services. As a result, people have struggled to seek and receive essential care during pandemic lockdowns.
Approximately 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 (including 214,000 fatalities among HIV positive people). The increase in the number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB, including: Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Viet Nam and Zambia.
Due to the world health emergency challenges of providing and accessing essential TB services, many people with TB were not diagnosed in 2020, as evidenced by this data: the number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.
The countries contributing most to the global reduction in TB notifications between 2019 and 2020 were India (41%), Indonesia (14%), the Philippines (12%) and China (8%). These and 12 other countries accounted for 93% of the total global drop in notifications.
There was also a reduction in TB preventive treatment, also likely attributable to pandemic restrictions and difficulties. Some 2.8 million people accessed TB preventive treatment in 2020, a 21% reduction since 2019.
The report further addresses a decline in spending on TB diagnostic, treatment, and prevention services, from US$ 5.8 billion to US$ 5.3 billion, which is less than half of the global target for fully funding the TB response of US$ 13 billion annually by 2022.
The American Thoracic Society has urged Congress to increase fiscal year 2022 funding for domestic TB programs and research at the CDC as well as global TB programs.
