CAPE TOWN - Although 66 million lives have been saved since 2000, the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed those gains and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased.
Ongoing conflicts across Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East have further exacerbated the situation for vulnerable populations.
On World TB Day on Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for an urgent investment of resources, support, care and information into the fight against tuberculosis (TB).
Global spending on TB diagnostics, treatments and prevention in 2020 were less than half of the global target of US$ 13 billion (R191 billion) annually by 2022. For research and development, an extra US$ 1.1 billion (R16 billion) per year is needed.
“Urgent investments are needed to develop and expand access to the most innovative services and tools to prevent, detect and treat TB that could save millions of lives each year, narrow inequities and avert huge economic losses,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “These investments offer huge returns for countries and donors, in averted health care costs and increased productivity.”
Investments in TB programmes have demonstrated benefits not just for people with TB but for health systems and pandemic preparedness. Building on lessons learnt from Covid-19 research, there is a need to catalyse investment and action to accelerate the development of new tools, especially new TB vaccines, WHO said.
Between 2018–2020, 20 million people were reached with TB treatment. This is 50% of the 5-year target of 40 million people reached with TB treatment for 2018-2022. During the same period 8.7 million people were provided with TB preventive treatment. This is 29% of the target of 30 million for 2018-2022.
The situation is even worse for children and adolescents with TB. In 2020, an estimated 63% of children and young adolescents below 15 years with TB were not reached with or not officially reported to have accessed life-saving TB diagnosis and treatment services; the proportion was even higher – 72% – for children under 5 years. Almost two thirds of eligible children under 5 did not receive TB preventive treatment and therefore remain at risk of illness.
Covi-19 has had a further negative and disproportionate impact on children and adolescents with TB or at risk, with increased TB transmission in the household, lower care-seeking and access to health services. WHO is sounding the alarm on World TB Day for countries to urgently restore access to TB services, disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, for all people with TB, especially children and adolescents.
“Children and adolescents with TB are lagging behind adults in access to TB prevention and care”, said WHO’s Global TB Programme Director Dr Tereza Kasaeva. “The WHO guidelines issued today are a gamechanger for children and adolescents, helping them get diagnosed and access care sooner, leading to better outcomes and cutting transmission. The priority now is to rapidly expand implementation of the guidance across countries to save young lives and avert suffering.”
Cape Times