Patients queue for TB screening. TB is now the ninth-leading cause of death worldwide and remains the world’s top infectious killer ahead of HIV/Aids. PHOTO | FILE
The World Health Organisation has raised concerns over the fight against tuberculosis, “which is stalling in most countries and is not fast enough to reach global targets or close persistent gaps in care and prevention.”
In its Annual TB report 2017, the WHO says that although global efforts to combat the disease have saved an estimated 53 million lives over the past 17 years and reduced the mortality rate by 37 per cent, TB remains the main cause of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance and the leading killer of people with HIV in 2016. “The sheer number of deaths and suffering speak for themselves; we are not accelerating fast enough,” said WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
