Experts say that a world without TB could be achieved by 2045

Prior to World TB Day on March 22 this year, a report suggesting that the world can eradicate TB by 2045 if actions are funded adequately has been published in the Lancet.

For the people living in the areas affected by the disease, this will be good news.

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis infected 10 million people and killed 1.6 million people in 2017, including 0.3 million among HIV-positive people, among the top 10 causes of infectious mortality in the world.

With increased political will and financial resources devoted to high-risk groups, as well as effective ways to diagnose, treat and prevent TB, the Lancet report says that a world without TB is possible.

To date, about 1.7 billion people, or 23% of the world's population, are thought to be infected with latent tuberculosis and may therefore develop active TB disease in their lifetime.

But comparatively, TB is not a serious problem in high-income countries. According to the WHO, European countries and regions of North America account for only 6% of cases worldwide, while regions of India, China and African countries count 84% of patients.

To address the global problem, the United Nations held its first high-level meeting on TB in 2018, stressing the need for immediate action to accelerate progress and the goal of ending to the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030.

As part of this initiative, China, the second country on the list of high-risk countries, has set a goal of reducing the TB incidence rate to 58/100 000 and 20 percent. % in the most affected regions of the country compared to 2015.

Policymakers have also listed anti-tuberculosis drugs in the country's basic health care system, providing grants to patients who need to be treated at the hospital.

In fact, with the intensification of efforts to reduce the burden and scrutiny of progress at the highest political levels, the incidence rate of tuberculosis is down 2% per year in the world.

According to WHO, the absolute number of deaths from TB in HIV-negative people has decreased by nearly 29% over the last 17 years.

The Lancet Report also estimated that the financial benefits of reducing TB mortality – the savings to prevent death from TB – are estimated at three times the cost and could be much higher in many countries. .

"The theme for this year's World TB Day is: it's time to end TB," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's Director General. "We stress the urgent need to translate the commitments made at the UN High Level Meeting on TB in 2018 into actions to ensure that all those in need of TB care can obtain it."