ASHENEWS reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that 70 per cent of all tuberculosis cases in Africa have been diagnosed with patients currently receiving treatment.
The global health body, in a blog post published on its website to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis Day, said that the number is the highest case-detection rate ever in Africa.
Caused by bacteria, Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death of people with HIV and also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance.
Although curable and preventable, 1.5 million people die from TB each year out of the 10 million people who contract the disease annually.
The WHO noted that the rise has continued uninterrupted since 2018 with the rates rising from 60 percent in 2020 to 70 percent in 2022.
It also said “There has also been a notable reduction in the region in the number of people with TB who miss diagnosis.
“An estimated 700,000 people missed diagnosis in 2022, a 10% reduction compared with 2021. To further rally efforts to end the disease through concerted global efforts to advance detection, diagnosis and treatment, World TB Day is being marked this year under the theme “Yes! We can end TB.”
“In the African region, a range of factors have helped boost TB diagnosis rates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries-maintained TB notification services, ensuring that cases were detected and treated.
“In Nigeria, which has a huge TB burden, case notification nearly tripled over the past five years to 285 000 cases in 2022 from 106 000 cases in 2018. Improvement in the management of HIV infection, a significant driver of TB, has also bolstered TB detection rates in the region.”
According to the post, Africa accounts for 23% of TB cases and 33% of deaths globally but countries in the region were making steady progress towards ending the disease.
“For example, Cabo Verde, Eswatini and South Africa have achieved at least a 50% reduction in TB cases.
“The WHO End TB Strategy calls for countries to reduce TB deaths by 75% and cases by 50% by 2025 compared with the 2015 levels.
“Across the region TB deaths fell by 38% and new cases declined by 23% in 2022 compared with 2015. High-burden TB countries have surpassed the 2025 milestone to lower TB deaths.”
WHO thereby recommended increased investment in Tuberculosis control programmes to help meet the 2030 global End TB Strategy targets to cut TB deaths by 90% and cases by 80%.
“In 2022, in the African Region, the Global Plan to End TB 2018-2022 estimated that US$ 3.9 billion were required annually to achieve the targets, but only around US$ 890 million were mobilized for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Domestic funding represented about 46% of total funding for TB (54% from international funding) in 2022.
“Limited access to health services, inadequate health infrastructure, insufficient quality of care, inadequate human resources for health and inadequate social protection are also impeding progress to ending TB.
“Globally TB continues to claim millions of lives annually. In the African region Africa, TB was the second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, with nearly 2.5 million people falling ill and 424 000 lives lost in 2022.”
The post further quoted the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti as saying “More efforts are still needed to reduce the devastating impacts of this disease on families and communities. As WHO we continue working closely with governments to address the barriers to effective response and speed up the momentum to make TB history.”
