Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, claiming over 1.2 million lives and affecting an estimated 10.7 million people in 2024, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, released on Thursday.
While strides have been made in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, persistent funding gaps, uneven social protection coverage, and the concentration of TB cases in a few high-burden countries threaten to reverse these hard-won gains.
“Declines in the global burden of TB, and progress in testing, treatment, social protection, and research are all welcome news after years of setbacks, but progress is not victory,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The fact that TB continues to claim over a million lives each year, despite being preventable and curable, is simply unconscionable. WHO is working with countries to build on the progress they have made and accelerate the path to ending TB by 2030.”
According to the World Health Organization, the fight against TB globally has recorded some important successes. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of people falling ill with TB fell by nearly 2%, while TB-related deaths declined by 3%, signaling a recovery of health services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 2015 and 2024, the African Region reduced TB incidence by 28% and deaths by 46%, while the European Region achieved a 39% drop in cases and a 49% reduction in deaths. Over 100 countries have achieved at least a 20% reduction in TB incidence, and 65 countries have cut deaths by 35% or more, meeting the initial milestones of the WHO End TB Strategy.
Despite this progress, TB remains concentrated in a small number of countries. In 2024, 87% of TB cases occurred in just 30 nations, with India, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bangladesh accounting for 67% of the global total.
Timely treatment continues to save lives. In 2024, 8.3 million people were newly diagnosed and treated for TB, while rapid testing coverage rose from 48% to 54%. Treatment success for drug-susceptible TB remained at 88%, and outcomes for drug-resistant TB improved to 71%. Preventive treatment reached 5.3 million high-risk individuals, up from 4.7 million in 2023.
WHO also highlighted inequalities in social protection, with coverage ranging from 3.1% in Uganda to 94% in Mongolia, and 19 high-burden countries reporting coverage below 50%.
Funding shortfalls remain a key concern, with only US$5.9 billion (approximately Sh762.06 billion) available in 2024 for TB prevention and treatment, well below the US$22 billion(approximately Sh2.843 trillion) target for 2027.
Experts warn that cuts could result in up to 2 million additional deaths and 10 million new cases between 2025 and 2035.
“We are at a defining moment in the fight against TB,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Department for HIV, TB, Hepatitis, and STIs. “Funding cuts and persistent drivers of the epidemic threaten to undo hard-won gains, but with political commitment, sustained investment, and global solidarity, we can turn the tide and end this ancient killer once and for all.”
WHO is calling on governments to boost domestic investment, strengthen social protection, and intensify research to ensure the global goal of ending TB by 2030 is achieved.
