WHO in Western Pacific urges action to end tuberculosis by 2030

Manila: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday called on countries to take “urgent and decisive action” to end Tuberculosis (TB) by 2030.

“This is especially urgent in the WHO Western Pacific region, where nearly one in every five TB cases occur,” the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific said in its press release on World TB Day, falling on March 24 every year.

With an estimated 1.9 million new cases and 95,000 deaths due to TB in 2023, the Manila-based office said the impact of this disease on families and communities is profound, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Every missed TB case is a lost opportunity to save a life,” said Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO regional director for the western Pacific.

“We must turn our commitments into decisive action, ensuring that every person at risk gets the timely, high-quality diagnosis and care that they deserve.”

According to the WHO, TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that most often affect the lungs. It spreads through the air when people with TB cough, sneeze, or spit. TB is preventable and curable with specific antibiotics, but it still kills more people than any other infection.

Every year, 10 million people fall ill with TB. Despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die from TB each year – making it the world’s top infectious killer.

TB is the leading cause of death of people with HIV and also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance.

Most of the people who fall ill with TB live in low and middle-income countries, but TB is present all over the world. About half of all people with TB can be found in 8 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa.

About a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria, but most people will not go on to develop TB disease and some will clear the infection. Those who are infected but not (yet) ill with the disease cannot transmit it.

–IANS