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Tuberculosis firmly on the rise after years of decline: WHO

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Robin Millard and Agnès Pedrero, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="People pass beside the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City on September 27, 2021. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/10/27/20210927-lung-center-tb-dots-jc-2.jpg"/><figcaption>People pass beside the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City on September 27, 2021. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Tuberculosis has rebounded after years of decline, killing an estimated 1.6 million people in 2021, up 14 percent in two years, new World Health Organization figures showed Thursday.</p><p>TB, which was overtaken by COVID-19 during the worst of the pandemic as the world&#x27;s biggest infectious killer, claimed an estimated 1.5 million lives in 2020 and 1.4 million in 2019.</p><p>And the WHO blamed the resurgence of the disease on the pandemic, saying the crisis had had a huge and ongoing impact on access to diagnosis and treatment.</p><p>&quot;Globally, the annual estimated number of deaths from TB fell between 2005 and 2019, but the estimates for 2020 and 2021 suggest that this trend has been reversed,&quot; the UN&#x27;s health agency said in its annual Global TB report.</p><p>Most of the estimated increase in TB deaths globally was accounted for by four countries: India, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.</p><p>The report said it was possible that TB would &quot;once again be the leading cause of death worldwide from a single infectious agent, replacing COVID-19&quot;.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/08/20/20/coronavirus-hinders-philippines-efforts-to-eliminate-tuberculosis-health-official">Coronavirus hinders Philippines&#x27; efforts to eliminate tuberculosis - health official</a></li></ul><p>But Mel Spigelman, president of the non-profit TB Alliance, told AFP last week that that had already happened, comparing the annual TB death rate to the latest COVID-19 figures.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/02/22/200-tuberculosis-cases-recorded-in-south-cotabato">200 tuberculosis cases recorded in South Cotabato </a></li></ul><p>An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with TB in 2021 – a 4.5 percent increase on 2020, the WHO said.</p><p>&quot;This is the first time in many years an increase has been reported in the number of people falling ill with TB and drug resistant TB,&quot; the WHO said.</p><p>And the incidence rate – new cases per 100,000 population per year – increased by 3.6 percent between 2020 and 2021, after declining by around two percent a year for most of the last two decades.</p><div><strong>- Progress dented -</strong></div><p>&quot;The overarching finding of this report is that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a damaging impact on access to TB diagnosis and treatment and the burden of TB disease,&quot; the WHO update said.</p><p>&quot;Progress made in the years up to 2019 has slowed, stalled or reversed, and global TB targets are off track.</p><p>&quot;Intensified efforts backed by increased funding are urgently required to mitigate and reverse the negative impacts of the pandemic on TB.&quot;</p><p>Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria that most often affects the lungs. Like COVID, it is transmitted via the air by infected people, for example by coughing. It is preventable and curable.</p><p>The WHO said conflicts around the world, the global energy crisis and associated risks to food security were likely to worsen the situation further.</p><p>&quot;The top priority is to restore access to and provision of essential TB services, so that levels of TB case detection and treatment can recover to at least 2019 levels,&quot; the report said.</p><p>Eight countries accounted for more than two thirds of the global total of cases: India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p><p>&quot;If the pandemic has taught us anything, it&#x27;s that with solidarity, determination, innovation and the equitable use of tools, we can overcome severe health threats,&quot; said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.</p><p>&quot;Let&#x27;s apply those lessons to tuberculosis. It is time to put a stop to this long-time killer. Working together, we can end TB.&quot;</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2313569" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div class="iwantbar"> </div>

Most of the estimated increase in TB deaths globally was accounted for by four countries: India, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

Tuberculosis firmly on the rise after years of decline: WHO

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Tuberculosis firmly on the rise after years of decline: WHO

Robin Millard and Agnès Pedrero,

Agence France-Presse

Published October 28, 2022 04:32 AM PHT

|

Updated October 28, 2022 05:06 AM PHT

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