- India constituted 27 percent of the global tuberculosis (TB) cases in 2022, the report states.
- According to WHO estimates, TB claimed the lives of about 342,000 people in India, the bulk of whom were HIV-negative.
- There were 1.3 million deaths overall from tuberculosis, compared to 1.4 million in 2021.
The global TB report, which was released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, showed that while the COVID-19 pandemic has helped to improve the response to tuberculosis, more work is still required to reach new goals.
India constituted 27 percent of the global tuberculosis (TB) cases in 2022, the report states. This country had the highest number of TB cases worldwide. In addition, the report showed that, with 2.8 million TB cases and a case-fatality ratio of 12% in 2022, India led the group of the top eight high-burden nations.
TB diagnosis
According to WHO estimates, tuberculosis (TB) claimed the lives of about 342,000 people in India, the bulk of whom were HIV-negative.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (4.0%), Nigeria (4.5%), Bangladesh (3.6%), Pakistan (5.7%), China (7.1%), Indonesia (10%), and the Philippines (7.0%) were among the other high-burden nations on the list. Remarkably, in 2022, 1.1 lakh cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) were reported from India.
The Global Health Agency links the increase in tuberculosis (TB) cases to increased access to healthcare in several nations, with the Philippines, India, and Indonesia expected to recover to levels above 2019 by 2022.
The World Health Organization’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized the importance of understanding the disease’s causes and prevention. The estimated number of cases of tuberculosis in 2022 is 10.6 million, an increase from 10.3 million in 2021.
Smaller percentages of TB-related deaths occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Americas, and Europe, with the majority occurring in the WHO Regions of Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific.
There were 1.3 million deaths overall from tuberculosis, compared to 1.4 million in 2021. However, during the 2020–2022 period, COVID-19 disruptions led to almost 500,000 additional TB-related deaths. HIV-positive individuals continue to die primarily from tuberculosis.
Just 25% of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are receiving treatment, making it a public health emergency. Overall investment in these areas limits the advancement of new TB diagnostics, medications, and vaccines.
