TB deaths increase for first time in over a decade due to COVID-19 pandemic, says WHO

Tuberculosis deaths have risen for the first time in over a decade due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2021 Global TB report. The United Nations (UN) health agency stated that the COVID pandemic “reversed years of global progress” in the battle against Tuberculosis. Just last year, more people died from tuberculosis than the ones who were diagnosed and treated or provided with TB preventive treatment as compared to 2019. WHO noted that the overall expenditure on essential TB services is also depleting. 

Addressing the challenges, the UN health agency, in its official release, has stated that the first battle is a disruption in access to TB services and also that there is a scarcity of resources. In several nations, the staff meant to tackle TB-related situations were reallocated to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic which further restricted the availability of crucial resources. Another barrier, as per WHO, is that people have been struggling to seek care amid nationwide lockdowns that had been imposed in countries to stem the growth of Coronavirus cases. 

WHO said in a statement, “TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the impact on TB has been particularly severe. For example, approximately, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 (including 214 000 among HIV positive people).”

“The increase in the number of TB deaths occurred mainly in the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB[1]. WHO modelling projections suggest the number of people developing TB and dying from the disease could be much higher in 2021 and 2022,” it added.

The UN health agency has suggested that around 4.1 million currently suffer from tuberculosis but have not yet been diagnosed with the disease, or were not properly reported. WHO said, “The number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020. WHO estimates that some 4.1 million people currently suffer from TB but have not been diagnosed with the disease or have not officially reported to national authorities. This figure is up from 2.9 million in 2019.”

‘This is alarming news’

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement, “This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis.”

 “This is alarming news that must serve as a global wake-up call to the urgent need for investments and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions of people affected by this ancient but preventable and treatable disease,” he added.

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