According to the World Health Organization, between 2019 and 2021, tuberculosis deaths are expected to have increased globally, reversing years of decline as the COVID-19 pandemic severely hampered efforts to combat the disease.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered global efforts to combat deadly diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The global health crisis has specifically impacted TB responses, causing nations to miss deadlines for eradicating the infectious disease.

WHO urged people to use the pandemic’s lessons to combat tuberculosis, which has a serious impact on nations like India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Pakistan.

“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that with solidarity, determination, innovation and the equitable use of tools, we can overcome severe health threats,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

According to the WHO’s annual TB report, 1.6 million people died from tuberculosis in 2021, more than the estimated 1.5 million deaths in 2020 and 1.4 million deaths in 2019. Between 2005 and 2019, fewer people died from tuberculosis.

The report also issues a warning that TB may soon overtake COVID-19 as the most common infectious cause of death worldwide.

According to a recent report by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, despite a rise in the number of people treated and prevented from contracting these deadly diseases last year, the world is still far from eradicating them.

According to a WHO report, 10.6 million people were infected with tuberculosis in 2021, a 4.5% increase from 2020.

The WHO set a target to reduce TB deaths by 35% from 2015 to 2020 as part of its “End TB Strategy,” but the actual reduction was 5.9% between 2015 and 2021.

(Adapted from USNews.com)

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