This Disease Could Become the Leading Cause of Death from Infectious Diseases Due to Lack of Money

WHO Reports Increase in Tuberculosis Patients
"Patient Rise Due to Lack of Medical Response Funding"

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that tuberculosis is expected to become the infectious disease with the highest number of deaths due to an increase in patients caused by a lack of medical response funding.

On the 30th (local time), WHO reported that the number of newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients last year reached 8.2 million. This is the highest annual number of new patients since tuberculosis patient statistics began in 1995.

The number of tuberculosis deaths last year reached 1.25 million. Although this is slightly lower than the 1.32 million in 2022, WHO predicts that tuberculosis will once again be the leading cause of death from infectious diseases last year.

This Disease Could Become the Leading Cause of Death from Infectious Diseases Due to Lack of Money

During the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021, there were 14.9 million related deaths. Since the international health emergency for COVID-19 was lifted in 2022, related statistics have not been clearly recorded, but the number of COVID-19 deaths appears to have already dropped sharply to fewer than tens of thousands annually.

WHO attributes the increase in tuberculosis patients to funding issues. The Global Fund, an international organization established to eradicate AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, allocates fundraising primarily to high-risk countries. However, the funds available for tuberculosis response managed by the Global Fund are currently significantly insufficient. This is similar to last year when the number of conflicts and natural disasters surged, causing international organizations conducting humanitarian relief activities to face fundraising shortfalls compared to demand.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “I am outraged that tuberculosis, which is preventable and treatable, still causes so many deaths,” and urged “all countries to fulfill their commitments to eradicate tuberculosis.”