Thursday, October 13, 2016

WHO 2016 TB Report: Global Efforts Falling Short

http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/en/















#11,815


The World Health Organization has released their 2016 Global TB report, and the news is sobering.  This from the Executive Summary:


Status of the TB epidemic and MDR-TB crisis

The TB epidemic is larger than previously estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India. However, the number of TB deaths and the TB incidence rate continue to fall globally and in India.

In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new (incident)TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9 million (56%)were among men, 3.5 million (34%) among women and 1.0 million (10%) among children. People living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million (11%) of all new TB cases.

Six countries accounted for 60% of the new cases: India,Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa.1 Global progress depends on major advances in TB prevention and care in these countries. Worldwide, the rate of decline in TB incidence remained at only 1.5% from 2014 to 2015. This needs to accelerate to a 4–5% annual decline by 2020 to reach the first milestones of the End TB Strategy.

In 2015, there were an estimated 480 000 new cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and an additional 100 000 people with rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) who were also newly eligible for MDR-TB treatment.2 India, China and the Russian Federation accounted for 45% of the combined total of 580 000 cases.

There were an estimated 1.4 million TB deaths in 2015, and an additional 0.4 million deaths resulting from TB disease among people living with HIV.3 Although the number of TB deaths fell by 22% between 2000 and 2015, TB remained one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2015.

Here are some excepts from the WHO Press Release.
WHO report warns global actions and investments to end tuberculosis epidemic are falling far short

News release
 
13 October 2016 | GENEVA / WASHINGTON - New data published by WHO in its 2016 "Global Tuberculosis Report" show that countries need to move much faster to prevent, detect, and treat the disease if they are to meet global targets.

Governments have agreed on targets to end the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic both at the World Health Assembly and at the United Nations General Assembly within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. They include a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction in TB cases by 2030 compared with 2015.

"We face an uphill battle to reach the global targets for tuberculosis," said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director General. "There must be a massive scale-up of efforts, or countries will continue to run behind this deadly epidemic and these ambitious goals will be missed."

The WHO 2016 "Global Tuberculosis Report" highlights the considerable inequalities among countries in enabling people with TB to access existing cost-effective diagnosis and treatment interventions that can accelerate the rate of decline in TB worldwide. The report also signals the need for bold political commitment and increased funding.

Higher global burden of disease and death

While efforts to respond to TB saved more than 3 million lives in 2015, the report shows that the TB burden is actually higher than previously estimated, reflecting new surveillance and survey data from India.

In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide. Six countries accounted for 60% of the total burden, with India bearing the brunt, followed by Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa.

An estimated 1.8 million people died from TB in 2015, of whom 0.4 million were co-infected with HIV. Although global TB deaths fell by 22% between 2000 and 2015, the disease was one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2015, responsible for more deaths than HIV and malaria.

Gaps in testing for TB and reporting new cases remain major challenges. Of the estimated 10.4 million new cases, only 6.1 million were detected and officially notified in 2015, leaving a gap of 4.3 million. This gap is due to underreporting of TB cases especially in countries with large unregulated private sectors, and under-diagnosis in countries with major barriers to accessing care.

In addition, the rate of reduction in TB cases remained static at 1.5% from 2014 to 2015. This needs to accelerate to 4–5% by 2020 to reach the first milestones of the World Health Assembly-approved "End TB Strategy".

(Continue . . . )




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