Kenya still among 30 worst-hit countries despite TB death decline

A decade of progress in Kenya's fight against tuberculosis could be put in jeopardy as shrinking financial support threatens efforts to detect and treat the disease, despite the country recording a more than 50 per cent decline in TB deaths.

The warning comes as Kenya continues to carry one of the world's heaviest tuberculosis burdens, having failed to meet the more demanding targets set for 2025 under the World Health Organization's (WHO) End TB Strategy.

The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2026 places Kenya among African countries that achieved at least a 50 per cent reduction in TB deaths between 2015 and 2025.

The country had earlier recorded progress ahead of schedule, meeting the initial targets of the global strategy in 2018, two years before the 2020 deadline.

However, the latest assessment shows that the gains have not been sufficient to meet the next phase of the global targets, which required a much steeper reduction in infections and fatalities by 2025.

Kenya's classification has improved from "highly endemic" in 2015 to "endemic" in 2025, reflecting the reduction in its disease burden. Nevertheless, it remains among the 30 countries with the highest number of TB cases worldwide and has retained its place on WHO's high-burden list for the 2026-2030 period.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the worldwide decline in infections and deaths was a positive development, especially amid financial difficulties affecting disease-control programmes.

“The continued decline in TB cases and deaths is very encouraging, especially given the challenges many countries have faced from funding cuts,” he said.

He noted that some governments had increased domestic spending to protect the progress made, but warned that the disease continued to claim more than one million lives annually despite being preventable and treatable.

“Many governments have dug deeper into their own budgets to protect the gains they have made. And yet, more than one million people still die each year from a disease that is preventable and treatable. We urge countries and partners to urgently expand access to TB services, protect essential funding and accelerate the development of new tools to end this epidemic.”

The End TB Strategy was adopted by WHO member states in 2015 to guide global efforts towards reducing infections and deaths.

Its first milestone required countries to lower new infections by 20 per cent and deaths by 35 per cent by 2020, compared with figures recorded in 2015. Kenya attained both benchmarks in 2018.

The second phase set higher expectations, requiring a 50 per cent reduction in new infections and a 75 per cent decline in deaths by 2025. Kenya fell short of both goals, although it recorded a substantial reduction in fatalities.

The performance across Africa also shows how difficult it has been for countries to achieve the more ambitious targets. Only five African nations managed to cut new infections by at least half by 2025, while just two achieved the required 75 per cent reduction in deaths.

Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa were among the countries that recorded notable progress towards the targets.

Eliud Wandwalo, Head of Tuberculosis at the Global Fund, said the latest figures demonstrate that sustained action can reduce the impact of the disease, although the world is still not on course to achieve its 2030 commitments.

“The decline in the global TB burden is an important step forward, and the increase in domestic financing in some countries is particularly encouraging. But TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer, and we are still far off track to meet the 2030 targets,” he said.

Wandwalo cautioned that reduced contributions from international partners could undermine the progress, particularly in poorer countries that depend heavily on external support to run their TB programmes.

“At the same time, declining international funding is putting the progress we have made at risk, particularly in low-income countries. We know what works: sustained investment, strong country leadership and rapid, equitable access to innovation,” he added.

He also identified new diagnostic technologies as an opportunity to improve detection and treatment, but said their impact would depend on how quickly they are made available to patients.

“New tools, including near point-of-care TB tests, give us an opportunity to accelerate progress, but only if we get them to the people who need them, quickly and at scale.”

WHO said Africa had made encouraging strides in controlling tuberculosis, with deaths across the continent dropping by approximately half between 2015 and 2025.

At the global level, 89 countries had reduced annual TB deaths by at least 35 per cent by 2025, compared with their 2015 figures. This meant they had reached or exceeded the first milestone of the End TB Strategy, although some did so up to five years after the original deadline.

The report, however, warns that progress remains uneven, with continued investment, stronger national leadership and wider access to improved testing tools needed to accelerate the fight against the disease.