The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its 2024 Global Tuberculosis Report, revealing a record 8.2 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases in 2023—the highest number reported since WHO began global TB monitoring in 1995. This figure marks a rise from 7.5 million new cases in 2022, placing TB as the leading infectious disease killer worldwide, surpassing COVID-19. Although TB-related deaths decreased slightly from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million in 2023, the total number of cases reached an estimated 10.8 million.
As per the press release, the report highlights both achievements and setbacks in the global effort to control TB, emphasizing challenges such as severe underfunding. Key populations affected by TB are concentrated in 30 high-burden countries, with India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.8%), and Pakistan (6.3%) accounting for over half of the global TB burden. The report indicates 55% of TB cases in 2023 were in men, 33% in women, and 12% in children and young adolescents.
In a statement, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for urgent action, urging nations to follow through on commitments to prevent, detect, and treat TB. “The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage when we have the tools to prevent it,” said Dr. Tedros.
While progress was made in reducing the gap between estimated and reported cases—from a COVID-19 high of about 4 million to 2.7 million in 2023—multidrug-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB) remains a significant public health challenge. WHO reported a treatment success rate of 68% for MDR/RR-TB, but only 44% of the estimated 400,000 people affected received diagnosis and treatment in 2023.
The report outlines serious funding gaps, with only $5.7 billion of the $22 billion annual funding target for TB available in 2023. This falls well short of the needs, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that bear 98% of the global TB burden. International donor funding for TB has stagnated at around $1.1–1.2 billion per year, with the U.S. government remaining the largest contributor. Despite crucial support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, current funding remains insufficient to meet critical TB service demands.
In addition to the funding crisis, the report reveals that TB research remains underfunded, with only 20% of the $5 billion annual target for TB research achieved. WHO emphasized the need for increased financial investment in new TB diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines, with initiatives such as the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council playing a central role in advancing vaccine development.
Complex factors, including poverty, undernutrition, HIV, diabetes, and tobacco and alcohol use, continue to drive TB rates. The report also includes, for the first time, data on the economic toll of TB on households, finding that half of affected households in LMICs face catastrophic healthcare costs.
Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Programme, underscored the urgent need for a coordinated, multisectoral approach to tackle funding shortages, poverty, migration, and drug resistance in TB care. WHO calls on global partners, governments, and donors to turn commitments from the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB into tangible actions, highlighting the urgent need for research funding, especially for TB vaccines, to meet the global targets for 2027 and beyond.