TB Still Among Top Killer Diseases in the World

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is marked every year on March 24.

The World TB day is designed to increase public awareness that TB remains an epidemic in much of the world and a major public health problem in Kenya mostly affecting the poor and socially disadvantaged. This year’s theme is “Wanted: Leaders for a TB Free World”.

In 2016, 10.4 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.7 million died from the disease (including 0.4 million among people with HIV). Over 95 percent of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Seven countries account for 64 percent of the total, with India leading the count, followed by Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, and South Africa.

In 2016, an estimated 1 million children became ill with TB and 250 000 children died of TB (including children with HIV associated TB).

TB is a leading killer of HIV-positive people: in 2016, 40 percent of HIV deaths were due to TB.

Kenya’s Tuberculosis disease burden is higher than initially thought with close to 40 percent of the country’s cases going undetected.

In 2017, the National TB Prevalence Survey was released which found out that that the prevalence of TB in men was twice as high as that of women with the overall highest burden being among people aged 25 to 34. Interestingly, 83 percent of TB cases were HIV negative. This suggested that interventions to control TB among people living with HIV had been successful and that a large burden of TB now existed among people not infected with HIV.

Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there were 600 000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin – the most effective first-line drug, of which 490 000 had MDR-TB. Globally, TB incidence is falling at about 2 percent per year. This needs to accelerate to a 4–5 percent annual decline to reach the 2020 milestones of the End TB Strategy.

An estimated 53 million lives were saved through TB diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2016.