4,000 People Die Of Tuberculosis Every Day—WHO

More than 4,000 people still die from tuberculosis every day, the World Health Organisation says.

This is despite interventions that have saved an estimated 43 million lives since 2000—a battle only half won, WHO said. Between 1990 and 2015, TB death rate dropped by 47%.

Some 9.6 million people were taken ill with TB in 2014, and 1.5 million of them died from the disease, including 380 000 among people living with HIV, WHO says.

More than 95% of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and TB is among the top five causes of death for women aged 15 to 44.

“Many of the communities that are most burdened by tuberculosis are those that are poor, vulnerable and marginalized,” WHO said.

“Ending TB will only be achieved with greater collaboration within and across governments, and with partners from civil society, communities, researchers, the private sector and development agencies.

It has asked countries and partners to “Unite to End Tuberculosis”, and lists Nigeria among 30 countries with the highest burden of TB.

WHO’s End TB Strategy aims to reduce TB deaths by 90% and to cut new cases by 80% between 2015 and 2030, and to ensure that no TB-affected family faces catastrophic costs due to TB.

“This means taking a whole-of-society and multidisciplinary approach, in the context of universal health coverage,” according to the WHO.

The organisation has listed obstacles to progress in TB as including fragile health systems, human resource and financial constraints, and the serious co-epidemics with HIV, diabetes, and tobacco use.

It called multi-drug resistant TB another critical challenge. Globally, in 2014, an estimated 480,000 people developed MDR-TB.

“Urgent and effective action to address antimicrobial resistance is key to ending TB by 2030. So are increased investments, as the global tuberculosis response remains underfunded for both implementation and research,” it said.

Source: The Elites NG