JOHANNESBURG, Nov 8 2022 - The news in many parts of the world is that tuberculosis (TB) is reclaiming the title of the world’s most deadly infection, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to kill an estimated 1,450 people daily around the world. But this is not news to African countries, which are home to one third of the people globally who die from TB, even though they have less than one fifth of the world’s population.

Every child has a right to life and to health, yet 1.2 million children and young adolescents fell ill with TB in 2021. Over 200 000 children lost their lives to TB in the same year, and as much as 80% of them had not reached their fifth birthday. This year’s World Children’s Day comes at a time when the world is battling a global COVID-19 pandemic, and is faced with geopolitical conflict, economic downturn and food insecurity, all of which are broader determinants of TB. The impact of these factors on the TB epidemic will be disproportionately felt by the vulnerable, including children. 

17 December 2022: An analysis yesterday by researchers with the TB Alliance, Stop TB Partnership, World Health Organization (WHO), and other groups estimates that the recently approved BPaLM/BPaL treatment regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) could save governments up to $740 million a year, enough to supply more than 400,000 people with almost a year's worth of DR-TB treatment.

In children exposed to tuberculosis, chest radiography helped in detecting asymptomatic coprevalent TB and predicting incident TB after baseline, according to a study in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Women had a higher risk for both severe forms of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV coinfection than men, suggesting additional research is needed to assess gender disparities in TB.

Improved outcomes and increased treatment tolerability to linezolid were observed in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis who switched to a lower dose.

Statement by Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the Global Tuberculosis Community Advisory Board (TB CAB)

To mark International Men’s Day 2022, 19 November, the World Health Organization and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Working Group on Gender Equity in TB will host a webinar on multisectoral engagement to improve gender equity in TB and ensure no one is left behind on 21 November 2022.

Consultations are open to inform the TB Community Accountability Report on the Global Response to End TB. The report is being developed under the leadership of the Stop TB Partnership Affected Community and NGO Delegations but is envisaged to be a product that is owned by all TB affected community and civil society. The report will be presented at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB.

Some cases of TB can be successfully treated in as little as two months – a third of the current standard of six months in South Africa and most other countries. This is according to early findings from the landmark TRUNCATE TB trial presented at 2022 Union World Conference on Lung Health.