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After being outpaced by Covid-19 for three years in a row, tuberculosis It again became the deadliest infectious disease in 2023. causing nearly 1.2 million deaths worldwidesignificantly higher than the 320,000 that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates are caused by the coronavirus that caused the pandemic earlier in the decade.

However, the figure suggests that slight reduction in overall mortality due to tuberculosis reported in 2022, when it caused almost 1.3 million deaths, WHO indicated when presenting this Tuesday its annual report on the incidence of the disease.

The Geneva-based organization attributes the decline in deaths to the restoration of diagnostic and treatment systems for tuberculosis and other diseases that were weakened during the acute phase of the pandemic.

The document also noted a slight increase in the number of tuberculosis cases (both newly diagnosed and re-infected) from 10.6 million registered in 2022 to 10.8 million in 2023.

Asia and Africa at the forefront of cases

By region, 45% of these cases were diagnosed in Southeast Asia, 24% in Africa and 17% in East Asia and the Pacific, while smaller proportions were recorded in the Middle East and Maghreb (8.6%), Americas (3 .2%). and Europe (2.1%).

Of the 10.8 million reported cases, 6 million were in adult men, 3.6 million in women and 1.3 million in children and adolescents, according to the WHO report.

Five countries account for more than half of the global TB burden: India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), Philippines (6.8%) and Pakistan (6.3%). , shows that the disease continues to “disproportionately” affect developing regions.

“It is a disgrace that so many people continue to die and get sick from tuberculosis when we have the tools to prevent, detect and treat the disease,” WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he launched the report.

On a positive note, WHO noted an increase in the number of diagnosed cases last year to 8.2 million, thus exceeding 7.5 million in 2022 and reaching the highest number since the organization began global monitoring of the disease in 1995

According to WHO, the increase was made possible by “significant efforts” made at national and global levels to recover from disruptions in detection and prevention networks during the Covid crisis, especially in countries with higher incidence of tuberculosis such as India, Indonesia. and the Philippines.

Expanding diagnostic capabilities for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Despite these advances, the report warns that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which does not respond to key treatments for the disease such as rifampicin, remains a “public health crisis.”

So of the 400,000 people the UN health agency estimated suffered from this more serious tuberculosis until last year, only 44% are estimated to have been diagnosed and treated appropriately in 2023.

WHO warns that one of the main obstacles to the fight against tuberculosis remains the global funding gap for its prevention and treatment, which has fallen to $5.7 billion (€5.289 million) in 2023, well below the annual target of $22 billion. dollars. 20.415 million euros).

However, five other factors have been cited as reasons for the rise in tuberculosis cases worldwide: malnutrition, HIV infection, alcohol use disorders, smoking (especially among men) and diabetes.

Faced with this situation, WHO called on the international community to tackle these problems at their roots by tackling critical determinants such as poverty or low per capita income in the worst-affected countries, and thus make progress towards eradicating the disease.

EFE