Geneva – The coronavirus pandemic has set back the fight against tuberculosis by years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Of just under ten million people who died of tuberculosis (TB) on Thursdays last year, only 5.8 million, the WHO reported in Geneva. In the previous year it was 7.1 million. The decline is due, among other things, to lockdowns and exit restrictions as well as to the overloading of health services.

In 2020, TB was the second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent after Covid-19. A good 1.5 million people died from it, after 1.4 million in the previous year. The trend of a decline in new infections, which had been created over the years, was quickly stopped. If patients are unaware of their infection, they cannot be treated. The numbers for 2021 and 2022 are therefore likely to be even worse, i.e. the WHO will die. Expenditure on diagnosis, treatment and prevention in 2020 fell from 5.8 to 5.3 billion dollars (4.6 billion euros). That is less than half as much as would be necessary according to WHO information.

What is tuberculosis anyway?

Tuberculosis is a contagious infectious disease that is transmitted by droplets, such as the coughs of infected people. It mainly falls down the lungs. The disease can only break out years after infection. The signs are cough, tiredness and fever. They can be cured with antibiotic treatment for several months. If left untreated, it can lead to death.

The WHO member countries decided six years ago to contain the TB epidemic by 2030. Compared to 2015, the number of newer cases per 100,000 people should drop by 80 percent and the number of benefits by 90 percent. The intermediate targets for 2020 were clearly missed. Until then, the incidence had only decreased by eleven percent instead of the targeted 20 percent. In terms of study times, the decrease was 9.2 instead of 35 percent. The best results of the WHO region Europe, where the incidence fell by as much as 25 percent and the number of authorities fell by 26 percent, mainly due to advances in Russia.

A good quarter of all people infected with tuberculosis live in India, 8.5 percent in China and 8.4 percent in Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Nigeria. Eight percent of TB sufferers were infected with the HI virus, which causes immunodeficiency.