The WHO releases investment case for increasing funding for TB screening and preventative treatments

20 March 2024, 07:45
Contributor: Linda Ravenhill


Ahead of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for an increased investment in tuberculosis screening and preventive treatments. 

An investment case for TB screening and preventive treatment, developed through a modelling study with the governments of Brazil, Georgia, Kenya, and South Africa, underscores the potential impact of expanding these services. It shows that even modest investments could yield significant health and economic benefits, suggesting that achieving a return on investment of up to US$39 for every dollar invested is possible. The WHO released the investment case on the 15th of March, 2024.

Despite significant progress in combating TB globally, with an estimated 75 million lives saved since 2000, TB still causes 1.3 million deaths annually and affects millions more, posing significant challenges to families and communities worldwide.

Implementing TB screening and preventive treatment measures could substantially reduce TB incidence and mortality rates. However, the scale-up of access to TB preventive treatment, particularly for multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), has been slow. The global number of people living with HIV and household contacts of TB patients who received TB preventive treatment increased to 3.8 million in 2022, representing about 60% of those targeted that year.

Increased investments, high-level leadership, and faster adoption of new WHO recommendations are crucial to combat TB. 

The 2024 World Tuberculosis Day theme, "Yes! We can end TB!" emphasizes the importance of hope and concrete actions to achieve global TB targets. These targets, approved at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, include reaching 90% of people in need with TB prevention and care services, ensuring the availability of at least one new TB vaccine, and closing funding gaps for TB implementation and research by 2027.

Access the related content

Funding a tuberculosis-free future: an investment case for screening and preventive treatment
 

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