Worldwide spending dedicated to the fight against tuberculosis is totally insufficient to relaunch the battle against the disease after the Covid-19 pandemic puts a stop to the fight against the disease, the WHO (World Health Organization) said on Monday (21). .
On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day (March 24), the WHO recalled that the goals set for 2022 “are at risk, mainly due to lack of funding”.
According to the organization, global spending on tuberculosis detection, treatment and prevention in 2020 was half of the global target of US$13 billion per year.
“It is necessary to make urgent investments to develop and expand access to the most innovative services and instruments to prevent, detect and treat tuberculosis, which could save millions of lives each year, reduce inequalities and avoid huge economic losses”, indicated the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus in a statement.
In terms of research and development, the organization estimates that the world should invest an additional US$ 1.1 billion globally.
According to the WHO, tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease – after Covid-19. Every day more than 4,100 people die and about 30,000 contract the disease, which can be prevented and cured.
The disruption suffered by health services due to the health crisis triggered by the new coronavirus nullified years of global progress in the fight against the disease, according to the entity.
Tuberculosis-related deaths began to rise again for the first time in more than a decade.
The WHO is calling for investment to accelerate the development of new TB vaccines, while the existing one, BCG, celebrated its 100th anniversary last year and is only partially effective.
A new vaccine “would be a game-changer,” Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO’s World Tuberculosis Program, told a news conference.
Nine candidates are at an advanced stage of development, and the technology behind mRNA vaccines is also promising. “We believe it is entirely possible, if it is a priority, to have an effective new vaccine against tuberculosis before 2025,” said Kasaeva.
From 2018 to 2020, 20 million people received treatment for this disease, 50% of the five-year goal set at 40 million people. During the same period, 8.7 million people received preventive treatment, 29% of the target set at 30 million for 2018-22.
However, the worst part affects the youngest. In 2020, 63% of children and adolescents under 15 years of age with tuberculosis remained off the radar of health systems or were not officially informed about access to testing and treatment services. The proportion was even higher, at 72%, for children under 5 years of age.
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