The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that disruptions in tuberculosis (TB) services worldwide are putting millions of lives at risk. The global health body has called for urgent investments to safeguard TB care and support services for those in need across different regions and countries.
TB continues to be the world’s deadliest infectious disease, claiming over one million lives annually and having a devastating impact on families and communities, according to WHO. Since 2000, global efforts have saved an estimated 79 million lives, but recent drastic funding cuts threaten to undo these gains.
In a statement released on Thursday, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized the critical importance of collective efforts to sustain TB progress despite the funding reductions.
“The significant progress made against TB in the past two decades is now at risk as funding cuts disrupt access to prevention, screening, and treatment services for those with TB,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus. He further stressed that global leaders must fulfill the commitments made at the UN General Assembly just 18 months ago to accelerate efforts to end TB.
“The theme for World Tuberculosis Day 2025, ‘Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver,’ serves as a call to action, urging urgency, accountability, and hope,” he added.
Reports indicate severe disruptions to TB services in several high-burden countries, especially in the WHO African Region, followed by the South-East Asian and Western Pacific Regions. Twenty-seven countries are facing significant breakdowns in their TB responses, leading to dire consequences such as shortages in healthcare workers, disrupted diagnostic services, and collapsing surveillance systems.
Other impacts include the deterioration of community engagement efforts, such as active case finding, screening, and contact tracing, which are essential to early detection and reducing transmission. Additionally, nine countries are facing critical issues in TB drug procurement, threatening treatment continuity and patient outcomes.
The WHO also highlighted that 2025 funding cuts exacerbate the existing underfunding of the global TB response. In 2023, only 26% of the US$22 billion needed annually for TB prevention and care was available, leaving a massive funding gap. TB research has similarly been underfunded, receiving just one-fifth of the US$5 billion target in 2022, delaying critical advancements in diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.
Despite these challenges, WHO continues to lead efforts to develop a TB vaccine through the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, but the future of these initiatives remains at risk without immediate financial support.
