“Global tuberculosis deaths fell by over 40 percent between 2010 and 2024, from 2.13 million to 1.23 million. Africa, where a large share of tuberculosis deaths occur, saw particularly rapid progress,” reports The Doomslayer.
The World Health Organization explains:
“Between 2023 and 2024, the global rate of people falling ill with TB declined by nearly 2%, while deaths from TB fell by 3%. These reductions signal a continued recovery of essential health services following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some regions and countries show sustained progress, demonstrating that strong political commitment and investment address this ancient disease. Between 2015 and 2024, the WHO African Region achieved a 28% reduction in the TB incidence rate (number of people falling ill with TB per 100 000 population per year) and a 46% reduction in deaths. The European Region saw even greater declines, with a 39% drop in incidence and a 49% reduction in deaths.
During the same period, over 100 countries achieved at least a 20% reduction in TB incidence rates, and 65 countries achieved reductions of 35% or more in TB-related deaths. These countries have attained the first milestones of the WHO End TB Strategy.
However, ending TB globally will require accelerated progress in countries with the highest burden. In 2024, 87% of the global number of people who developed TB disease was concentrated in 30 countries. Just eight of them accounted for 67% of the global total: India (25%), Indonesia (10%), the Philippines (6.8%), China (6.5%), Pakistan (6.3%), Nigeria (4.8%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.9%) and Bangladesh (3.6%).
Ethiopia used to have the highest death rate from tuberculosis in the world. But it is no longer in the top eight countries for TB, even though it is one of the world’s ten most populous countries, with 132 million people. Back in 1980, a fifth of all deaths in Ethiopia were from tuberculosis, a nasty disease that attacks the lungs. But by 2021, only about 3% of deaths in Ethiopia were from tuberculosis. Ethiopians now live about 68 years, on average, compared to only 43 years in 1980.
Although Ethiopians are unlikely to die of tuberculosis these days, the disease remains common in the neighboring country of Somalia, much of which is controlled by warring clans. About a sixth of all deaths in Somalia were from tuberculosis in 2021. Deaths from the disease often occurred in the mountainous African country of Lesotho, and in Zimbabwe and Burundi (the latter is a poverty-stricken country where mass ethnic killings have repeatedly occurred in the past, such as in 1972, when the Tutsi-controlled government slaughtered over 100,000 Hutu people).
Back in the 20th Century, Peace Corps volunteers in Ethiopia and other African countries would sometimes contract tuberculosis or mysterious diseases that disabled or killed them. After graduating from law school, the future White House counsel Charles Ruff accepted a Ford Foundation fellowship to teach law in Africa. In 1964, while in Liberia, Ruff was sickened with flu-like symptoms (the disease was never identified) and almost died; he became paralyzed in the legs and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Nature notes that
the African region cut TB incidence by about 28% and TB deaths by 46% between 2015 and 2024…
Despite these advances, Africa and south-east Asia accounted for nearly 69% of global TB deaths among HIV-negative people in 2024…An estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with TB in 2024, and 1.23 million died. Of the 30 countries with the highest TB burdens, 17 are in the WHO African Region, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and South Africa.
