Facts About Tuberculosis
- Tuberculosis is the archetypal poverty related disease.
- The tuberculosis epidemic is larger than previously imagined.
- TB has the highest death rate of all of the infectious diseases.
- TB is within the top 13 leading causes of death worldwide.
- Between 2002 and 2022, 10 million new cases were reported annually, of which 4.3 million are undiagnosed.
- Annually, approximately a quarter million children die of TB.
- People living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million (11%) of all new TB cases.
- TB disproportionally affects adult men. The highest death rates are among men aged between 15 to 40. These are men who could be contributing to their family's and country's wealth, but are instead draining their resources.
- There is an inexorable rise of the global incidence in multi-drug resistance TB (MDR TB) and of TB that is totally resistant to the majority of available drugs (XDR TB).
- Eight countries account for 60% of new TB cases: India; Indonesia; China; Nigeria; Pakistan; South Africa; the Phillipines; and Bangladesh. However, Africa bears the brunt of the disease. Africa has 14% of the world's population and 30% of the global TB population along with 80% of its HIV infected population.
- There is no room for complacency in Europe and North America. Large scale migrations and travel will continue to pose a challenge to the eventual eradication of TB.
- A survey conducted in Bangladesh and Tanzania showed that TB treatment costs more than three-quarters of the average patient's income in the last 2 months of treatment. Furthermore, TB caused 85% of Tazanian patients and 71% of Bangladesh patients to terminate productive and economic activities. Patients are often forced to borrow money and/ or sell assets to cover the costs of TB treatment, burdening families and caregivers.1
- The current incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis is severely straining the capacity of National Tuberculosis Control Programmes (NTCPs) to sucessfully administer the current (WHO recommended) strandard 6 months regime.
Tuberculosis is a curable disease!
The actual treatment cost for TB is only 5p a day for 6 months (£9 for full treatment). Yet, this curable disease continues to ravage populations in the southern hemisphere.
In the absence of an effective vaccine, a substantial reduction of treatment duration offers the only hope of reducing the mortality from TB and, eventually, eliminating the pandemic. It is universally agreed that, if tuberculosis is to be eradicated through treatment, then tretament duration will have to be reduced substantailly in order to improve compliance from both the patients and the treatment services.
The outcomes from shorter treatment regimens will be:
For Patients
- increased cure rates
- increased compliance
- enhanced quality of life
- reduced mortality
- reduced transmission rates
- reduced toxity from prolonged drug taking
- earlier return to work
While for Communities and Nations
- decreased burden of administration
- reduced cost to health services
- reduced incidence/ prevalence/ mortality
- improved national economies.
1. Gospodarevskaya, E.; Tulloch, O.; Bunga, C.; Ferdous, S.; Jonas, A.; Islam, S.; Raham, M.; Hussain, M.A.; Haque, M. N.; Egwaga, S.; Gardiner, E.; PrayGod, G.; Islam, M. AA.; Mann, G. H.; Wells, W. A.; Squire, S. B.; 2014 Patient costs during tuberculosis treatment in Bangladesh and Tanzania: the potential of shorter regimens Int J Tub Lung Dis. 18: 810-817.
World without TB
World Without TB aims to achieve a reduction in treatment duration through clinical trials of currently used drugs. This will be done through a series of rigorously conducted trials to test whether an increase in the dose can be safely achieved and whether this increase can lead to a reduction in treatment duration from the current 6 months to 3 months.
World Without Tuberculosis, however, needs your support to make our Vision a reality!