NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 24 — The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for concerted efforts by governments, communities and international partners to win the fight against Tuberculosis in Africa and the globe.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti noted the African region is still struggling to combat the TB epidemic hence the need for collaboration.
She made the call during world commemoration on the World TB Day on Friday.
“TB control efforts require concerted action by all: communities, governments, the private sector and international partners. Our region still suffers unacceptably high TB toll,” she said.
“Without robust joint efforts, this preventable and treatable disease will remain a serious public health threat with costly impacts for individuals and societies,” Dr Moeti said.
According to WHO, the African region is recording around 4 per cent annual decline rate in TB cases.
Although the rate is double the global pace, WHO says the region risks missing major milestones and targets to end the disease if efforts are not scaled up rapidly.
2025 target
WHO’s End TB Strategy has called for countries to reduce TB deaths by 75 per cent and cases by 50 per cent by 2025 compared with the 2015 levels.
To cross the 2025 milestone, WHO says the annual pace of reduction should reach 10 per cent per annum.
Yet despite the slowing pace towards the 2025 target, the African region has made progress in recent years.
“African countries have made remarkable progress against TB. The question is no longer about whether we can end TB, but how fast we must act to reduce the disease burden, save lives and maintain a high momentum towards a TB-free world,” Dr Moeti added.
TB deaths in the region fell by 26 per cent between 2015 and 2021, with high-burden TB countries surpassing initial targets to lower TB cases.
The World TB Day is being marked under the theme “Yes, we can end TB” to spur national action to bolster TB prevention and control.
The End TB Strategy also sets 2030 targets to cut TB deaths by 90 per cent and cases by 80 per cent, for which the annual reduction progress must be accelerated to 17 per cent, and further reductions to realize the 2035 vision of a world free of TB.
African countries have increased the uptake of new WHO-recommended tools and guidance, resulting in early access to TB prevention and care and better outcomes.
The proportion of people diagnosed with TB who were initially tested with a rapid diagnostic, for example, increased from 34 per cent in 2020 to 43 per cent in 2021.
WHO singled out limited access to health services, inadequate health infrastructure, insufficient quality of care, inadequate human and financial resources for health and inadequate social protection as some of the major barriers to ending TB.
