TB

In 2017, tuberculosis caused an estimated 1·6 million deaths, including 300 000 deaths among people with HIV, and surpassed HIV/AIDS to become the leading infectious cause of mortality worldwide. Approximately 36% of tuberculosis cases each year (around 3·5 million cases) are not diagnosed or reported, which might have contributed to the increase in tuberculosis prevalence.

With only a year until 2020 – and the deadline to reach the 90-90-90 targets – South Africa is dangerously off track. Currently 7.1 million people are living with HIV in the country. New HIV infections remain high, according to the Thembisa model1 at 275 000 in 2017, higher than the 231 000 estimated in the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) survey.

TB Data, Impact Assessment and Communications Hub (TB DIAH) is a new project that just launched a web-based, interactive data platform for global tuberculosis (TB) data users. TB DIAH is associated with the Global Accelerator to End TB, USAID’s new business model to focus on performance-based measures for combating TB.

Each year, we commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

The first-ever UN high level meeting on tuberculosis (TB) on 26 September 2018 in New York was a crucial political moment for TB. It resulted in an endorsement of the first UN Political Declaration on TB [1], specifying prevention and treatment targets and commitments to mobilizing additional resources for the TB response, including research and development.