WHO calls for massive investment to curb tuberculosis

Global spending on the fight against tuberculosis is totally insufficient to relaunch the battle against the disease after years of suspended fight against covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday.

On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day (24 March), WHO recalled that the targets set for 2022 “are at risk, mainly due to lack of funding”.

The agency noted that global spending on tuberculosis detection, treatment and prevention in 2020 was half of the global target of $13 billion a year.

“Urgent investments are needed to develop and expand access to the most innovative services and tools to prevent, detect and treat tuberculosis, which could save millions of lives each year, reduce inequalities and prevent huge economic losses,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , in a statement.

In research and development, the organization estimates that the world should invest an additional $1.1 billion globally.

The interruption of health services due to the covid-19 pandemic has nullified years of global progress in the fight against this disease that mainly affects the lungs, reports the WHO. Thus, tuberculosis related deaths began to rise again for the first time in more than a decade.

From 2018 to 2020, 20 million people received treatment for this condition, 50% of the five-year goal set at 40 million people. During the same period, 8.7 million people received preventive treatment, 29% of the target set at 30 million for 2018-2022.

But the worst part is taken by the younger ones. In 2020, 63% of children and adolescents under the age of 15 with tuberculosis remained off the radar of health systems or were not officially informed of having accessed testing and treatment services. The proportion was even higher - 72 per cent - for children under 5 years of age.

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