Home Communicable Diseases Global tuberculosis report 2023

The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2023 provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic, and of progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, at global, regional and country levels. This is done in the context of global TB commitments, strategies and targets.
The 2023 edition of the report is based primarily on data gathered by WHO from national ministries of health in annual rounds of data collection. In 2023, 192 countries and areas (out of 215) with more than 99% of the world’s population and TB cases reported data.

Facts

  • An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5% from 2020, and 1.6 million people died from TB (including 187 000 among HIV positive people).
  • The burden of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) also increased by 3% between 2020 and 2021, with 450 000 new cases of rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) in 2021.This is the first time in many years an increase has been reported in the number of people falling ill with TB and drug resistant TB.
  • TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, but its impact on the TB response has been particularly severe.
  • The reported number of people newly diagnosed with TB fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020. There was a partial recovery to 6.4 million in 2021, but this was still well below pre-pandemic levels.
  • Reductions in the reported number of people diagnosed with TB suggest that the number of people with undiagnosed and untreated TB has grown, resulting first in an increased number of TB deaths and more community transmission of infection and then, with some lag-time, increased numbers of people developing TB.
  • The number of people provided with treatment for RR-TB and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) has also declined between 2019 and 2020. The reported number of people started on treatment for RR-TB in 2021 was 161 746, only about one in three of those in need.
  • The report notes a decline in global spending on essential TB services from US$6 billion in 2019 to US$5.4 billion in 2021, which is less than half of the global target of US$13 billion annually by 2022.
  • The main source is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund).
  • The United States Government is the largest contributor of funding to the Global Fund and is also the largest bilateral donor; overall, it contributes close to 50% of international donor funding for TB.
  • In 2022, an estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. 5.8million men, 3.5 million women and 1.3 million children.
  • A total of 1.3 million people died from TB in 2022 (including 167 000 people with HIV). Worldwide, TB is the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 (above HIV and AIDS).
  • In 2022, the 30 high TB burden countries accounted for 87% of new TB cases. Eight countries account for two thirds of the total: Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines.
  • In 2022, 1.3 million children fell ill with TB globally. Child and adolescent TB is often overlooked by health providers and can be difficult to diagnose and treat.
  • TB is the leading killer of people with HIV. Among all incident cases of TB in 2022, 6.3% were people living with HIV; this proportion has been steadily declining for several years. In 2022, 671 000 people living with HIV fell ill with TB, with the highest burden in countries in the WHO African Region.
  • The global coverage of HIV testing among people diagnosed with TB remained high in 2022, at 80%. The global coverage of antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV who were newly diagnosed and reported with TB was 85% in 2022.
  • Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat. Only about 2 in 5 people with drug resistant TB accessed treatment in 2022. In some cases an even more severe form of multi-drug resistant TB may develop with bad treatment. Pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) and (XDR-TB) are forms of TB that responds to even fewer available medicines.
  • Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 75 million lives since the year 2000, but important diagnostic and treatment gaps persist. The treatment success rate for people treated for TB with first-line regimens was 88% in 2021.
  • Globally, TB incidence rose by 3.9% between 2020 and 2022, reversing declines of about 2% per year for most of the past 2 decades. This is still slower than the 4–5% annual decline that was required to achieve the 2020 milestones of the WHO End TB Strategy, accelerating to 10% per year by 2025 and then to an average of 17% per year from 2025 to 2035.
  • Of the estimated 10.6 million people who fell ill with TB in 2022, only 7.5 million were detected and notified, leading to a gap of 3.1 million cases. Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Progress in reducing the burden of tuberculosis (TB) disease requires adequate funding sustained over many years, spending in low- and middle-income countries increased from US$ 5.4 billion in 2021 to US$ 5.8 billion in 2021. This falls far short of the target of US$ 13 billion per year by 2022 that was set at the first UN high-level meeting on TB. For research and development, at least an extra US$ 1 billion per year is needed to accelerate the development of new tools.

Download fact sheet

Download report Global tuberculosis report 2023


Recommended readings

You may also like

Public Health Update (Sagun’s Blog) is a popular public health portal in Nepal. Thousands of health professionals are connected with Public Health Update to get up-to-date public health updates, search for jobs, and explore opportunities.
#1 Public Health Blog for sharing Job opportunities and updates in Nepal

”Public Health Information For All”
– Sagun Paudel, Founder

Public Health Initiative, A Registered Non-profit organization – All Right Reserved. 2011-2024. Contact us.