54 million people saved from TB in 7 years: WHO

Books Monday 25/March/2019 23:35 PM
By: Times News Service
54 million people saved from TB in 7 years: WHO

Muscat: An estimated 54 million people have been saved through tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2017, the World Health organisation (WHO) announced.
The agency is highlighting efforts to combat the deadly disease as part of World TB Day.
According to WHO, TB claims nearly 4,500 lives each day and close to 30,000 fall ill.
It remains the world’s top infectious killer and and a major cause of antimicrobial resistance-related deaths, the United Nations health agency said on World Tuberculosis Day.
Since 2000, global efforts to combat this preventable and curable disease have saved an estimated 54 million lives and reduced the TB mortality rate by 42 per cent.
“Even though it’s preventable and curable, TB claims 4,500 lives every single day. Last year at the UN General Assembly heads of state committed to save millions of lives from TB.
Now it’s time to act! We must close the gap in care to end TB and achieve Health for All,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
This year’s theme is ‘Its time to end TB’ Dr, Ghebreyesus said.
“We’re highlighting the urgent need to translate commitments made at the 2018 UN High Level Meeting on TB into actions that ensure everyone who needs TB care can get it,” stated the WHO chief.
Last week, WHO issued new guidance to improve treating multidrug-resistant TB.
It also made recommendations that included cross-sector actions to monitor and review progress; prioritised planning and the implementation of TB interventions; and a task force to ensure meaningful civil society engagement.
“This is a set of pragmatic actions that countries can use to accelerate progress and act on the high-level commitments made in the first-ever UN High Level Meeting on TB last September,” said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director WHO’s Global TB Programme.