Tuberculosis (TB) is recognized as one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, claiming more than 1.2 million lives and affecting an estimated 10.7 million people over the past year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 released today. Despite notable progress in treatment, diagnosis, and innovation, persistent challenges in funding and equitable access to care continue to threaten the hard-won gains in the global fight against TB. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commended the global decline in TB burden and acknowledged the significant advances in testing, treatment, social protection, and research achieved after years of setbacks. However, he emphasized that progress does not yet equate to victory. It is unacceptable that TB continues to claim more than a million lives each year, despite being both preventable and curable. WHO is working closely with countries to build on the progress achieved so far and accelerate efforts toward ending TB by 2030.
The global declines in the number of people falling ill with TB by almost 2% and deaths due to TB by 3% in 2023 and 2024 are an indicator that the world is continuing to recover the necessary health services in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2015 to 2024, the WHO African Region had reduced the incidence rate of TB by 28% and the number of deaths by 46%. The European Region recorded even more improvement, with a 39% decrease in incidence and a 49% decrease in deaths. More than 100 countries have achieved at least a 20% reduction in TB incidence, while 65 countries have reduced TB mortality by at least 35%, meeting the initial targets set under the WHO End TB Strategy. Nonetheless, progress remains uneven. In 2024, 87% of TB prevalence in the world was concentrated in 30 nations. Eight of them (67%) consisted of India (25%), Indonesia (10%), the Philippines (6.8%), China (6.5%), Pakistan (6.3%), Nigeria (4.8%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.9%), and Bangladesh (3.6%).
Since 2000, TB treatment has saved approximately 83 million lives. In 2024, about 8.3 million people were diagnosed and started treatment, representing 78% of those who fell ill. Similarly, testing coverage increased from 48% in 2023 to 54% in 2024. The treatment success rate for drug-susceptible TB reached 88%. The cases of drug-resistant TB also kept falling, and in 2024, over 164,000 individuals were treated, and the success rate rose to 71% as compared to 68% in the previous year. Prevention was delivered to 5.3 million high-risk people as compared to 4.7 million in 2023. The report emphasizes the crucial role of social protection in TB control. Among the 30 high-burden countries, coverage ranged from 3.1% in Uganda to 94% in Mongolia, with 19 countries reporting less than 50% coverage. WHO emphasized that the problems of undernutrition, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), diabetes, smoking, alcohol use, and poverty need to be solved through multisectoral action.
The greatest challenge remains inadequate funding. Globally, TB funding has stagnated since 2020, with only US$5.9 billion allocated in 2024 for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, just over one-quarter of the annual target of US$22 billion set to be achieved by 2027. By 2025, between 2 million otherwise preventable deaths and 10 million new cases of the disease could occur due to cuts in international donor support, depending on the time of the initial cut. There is also a lack of research investment of only US$1.2 billion in 2023, approximately 24% of the target. By August 2025, there will be 63 diagnostic tests and 29 drugs in clinical development, along with 18 vaccine candidates, six of which are in Phase 3 trials.
According to Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Department of HIV, TB, Hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the world now stands at a pivotal moment in the fight against TB. Political decisions to cut funding and ongoing contributors to the epidemic will roll back the progress made over time, yet with political determination, long-term investment, and global solidarity, we will turn the tide and ultimately defeat this old killer. WHO calls for stronger political commitment, increased domestic investment, and enhanced advocacy and research efforts to accelerate progress toward ending TB by 2030.
References: World Health Organization. Global gains in tuberculosis response endangered by funding challenges. Published 12 November 2025. Accessed 13 November 2025. Global gains in tuberculosis response endangered by funding challenges
