Nearly 1.5 million deaths from tuberculosis in the world in 2020. This is the alarming observation made on October 14 by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its annual report on tuberculosis. Such a figure had not been reached since 2017, and an increase in the number of deaths had not been recorded for more than ten years.
Years of progress ‘reduced to nothing’
In question: the covid, and the “disturbance of health services” it has caused. The pandemic would thus have “reduced years of progress against tuberculosis to nothing”, worries Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO.
Because not only has access to care been more difficult for sick people in the context of confinement, but in addition, the covid has monopolized the nursing staff, financial and technical resources. Finally, in 2020, the number of people who received preventive treatment against tuberculosis fell by 21% compared to 2019.
Towards further aggravation in 2021
And the numbers to come could get even worse in 2021 and 2022. Indeed, according to the WHO, around 4.1 million people have tuberculosis but were not diagnosed in 2020 or were not officially declared. . They were 2.9 million in this case in 2019.
“This is alarming news that should serve as a global wake-up call on the urgent need for investment and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions affected. by this disease”, continues the director general of the WHO.
A preventable and curable disease
There tuberculosiscaused by bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the second deadliest infectious disease after covid. Tubercle bacilli most often affect the lungs and spread through the air when infected people cough.
But TB is preventable and curable. About 85% of people who develop it can be successfully treated with a six-month drug regimen. And this treatment has the additional advantage of slowing down the transmission of the infection.
Sources:
- World Health Organization (WHO) statement Tuberculosis deaths rise for the first time in more than a decade due to the COVID-19 pandemic, October 14, 2021.
- Annual World Tuberculosis Report, WHO, October 2021.
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