The World Health Organization announced yesterday, Tuesday, that more than 8 million people were infected with tuberculosis last year, the highest number recorded since the United Nations began monitoring this disease.
The new report stated that about 1.25 million people died from pulmonary tuberculosis, and these deaths are almost double the number of people killed by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2023.
However, the number of deaths from TB continues to decline globally, and the number of newly infected people is beginning to stabilize.
The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to be infected with drug-resistant TB last year, less than half of them were diagnosed and treated.
It is worth noting that tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria, which mostly affect the lungs. It is estimated that about a quarter of the world’s population is infected with tuberculosis, but only 5% to 10% of them show symptoms.
Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long called on the American company Cevid, which produces tests to detect tuberculosis and are used in poorer countries, to provide them for $5 per test, to increase their availability.
Earlier this month, Médecins Sans Frontières, along with 150 global health partners, sent an open letter to Cepheid, calling on it to “give priority to the lives of individuals” and urgently help make tuberculosis tests more widespread globally.