1m people living with undetected tuberculosis in Africa — WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says one million people are living with undetected tuberculosis in Africa.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, stated this on Thursday in her message to mark this year’s World TB Day .

She said through the organization’s technical support, leading advocacy, and effective partnerships, enormous progress had been made over the past decade.

She said across the region, the challenges in TB prevention and control were significant.

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According to her, there is delayed diagnosis and testing with a notable gap between the estimated number of new infections and case notifications of TB:

She said, “40% of people living with TB did not know of their diagnosis or it was not reported in 2021.”

She said the link between TB and HIV is another factor, adding that   approximately 20 percent of people newly diagnosed with TB were also living with HIV infection.

“Third, the multi-drug resistant TB. In the African region, only 26% of all people living with multi-drug resistance are receiving the appropriate treatment”.

She said Nigeria was an example of a country that managed to significantly increase national TB case finding by 50 percent in 2021 using innovative approaches such as the expansion of the daily observed treatment protocols, use of digital technologies, community active case finding and enlisting public-private initiatives.

Moeti urged leaders, governments, partners, communities, and all stakeholders to foster the resilient health systems required to accelerate the TB response “so that we can reach the Sustainable Development Goals targets by 2030.”