Tuberculosis continues to be one of the greatest threats to global health, despite advances in its diagnosis and treatment. From 2007 until the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the leading cause of death from infectious disease.
In 2020, there was an 18% reduction in newly diagnosed cases of TB worldwide (at 2012 levels). In 2020, an estimated 1,500,000 people died due to TB (compared to 1,400,000 in 2019). The number of people treated for multidrug-resistant TB and latent TB infection decreased significantly (by 15% and 21% respectively). There has been a significant decrease in the resources now available to fight TB globally.
Recent studies conclude that over the next five years new TB cases may increase by 6.3 million and TB deaths by 1.4 million due to the impact of the pandemic and the burden on the health system.
On the occasion of today's World TB Day, Stelios Loukidis, Professor of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and President of the Respiratory Society, says that nowadays another airborne infectious disease, COVID-19, has almost monopolized the attention of the global community, jeopardizing the progress made in recent years in the fight against TB. In Greece, the consequences of reduced diagnosis and access to treatment are expected to become evident in the coming years, the professor notes.
In addition, the war in Ukraine, a country with particularly high rates of pulse-resistant TB, is inevitably hampering the provision of TB-related health services in the country and leading to millions of refugees, posing an additional threat to TB control in Europe. March 24 has been established as World TB Day as on March 24, 1882, Dr Robert Koch announced the discovery of the mycobacterium tuberculosis, which paved the way for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. This year's theme for World TB Day from the World Health Organization is Invest to End TB. Save Lives and reflects the need to strengthen research and innovation, and to ensure adequate resources for TB care and prevention in order to meet the commitments of global leaders to permanently eliminate the disease.
Source: CNA
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