Despite a steady decline in illness and death, tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer, with new data showing critical funding shortfalls could lead to millions of additional cases and deaths.
GENEVA, Switzerland –The global fight against tuberculosis is at a crossroads, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2025.
While prevention and care have saved an estimated 83 million lives since 2000, TB remains the world’s leading infectious killer, claiming 1.23 million lives in 2024 alone. The report warns that stagnating and threatened funding could erase the steady progress made in recent years.
“Declines in the global burden of TB, and progress in testing, treatment, social protection and research are all welcome news after years of setbacks, but progress is not victory,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“The fact that TB continues to claim over a million lives each year, despite being preventable and curable, is simply unconscionable.”
A Persistent Global Killer.
The report outlines a stark reality. In 2024, TB caused an estimated 1.23 million deaths, including 150,000 among people with HIV, solidifying its status as the leading killer of people with HIV and a major cause of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance.
An estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with TB worldwide last year, including 5.8 million men, 3.7 million women, and 1.2 million children. The disease is present in all countries and age groups, yet it is curable and preventable.
The burden, however, is not evenly shared. A major proportion of TB cases are concentrated in 30 high-burden countries, which accounted for 87 percent of the global total in 2024.
Just eight countries accounted for two-thirds of all cases: 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%).
Signs of Measurable Progress.
The report also highlights significant positive trends, signalling a recovery from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 2023 and 2024, the global rate of people falling ill with TB declined by nearly 2 percent, while deaths from TB fell by 3 percent.
Some regions have shown particularly strong progress. Between 2015 and 2024, the WHO African Region achieved a 28 percent reduction in the TB incidence rate and a 46 percent reduction in deaths. The European Region saw even greater declines, with a 39 percent drop in incidence and a 49 percent reduction in deaths.
During the same period, over 100 countries achieved at least a 20 percent reduction in TB incidence rates, and 65 countries achieved reductions of 35 percent or more in TB-related deaths, attaining the first milestones of the WHO End TB Strategy.
Advances in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention
Major advances in TB care are delivering results:· In 2024, 8.3 million people were newly diagnosed with TB and accessed treatment, representing about 78 percent of the people who fell ill.
The coverage of rapid testing for TB diagnosis increased from 48 percent in 2023 to 54 percent in 2024. Treatment for drug-susceptible TB remained highly effective, with a success rate of 88 percent.
The number of people developing drug-resistant TB each year has been slowly declining. Over 164,000 people received treatment for drug-resistant TB in 2024, with success rates improving to 71 percent, up from 68 percent the previous year.
In 2024, 5.3 million people at high risk of TB received preventive treatment, up from 4.7 million in 2023.
Tackling the Drivers of the Epidemic.
The report emphasises that a significant proportion of the TB burden is driven by five major risk factors: undernutrition, HIV infection, alcohol use disorders, smoking, and diabetes.
Tackling these, alongside critical determinants like poverty, requires coordinated action across multiple sectors. For the first time, the report includes data on social protection coverage.
Globally, an estimated 52 percent of the population is covered by at least one social protection benefit, up from 43 percent in 2015. However, this coverage is deeply unequal, ranging from 94 percent in Mongolia to just 3.1 percent in Uganda among high-burden countries. Nineteen high-burden countries have coverage rates below 50 percent.
Funding Gaps: The Greatest Threat.
A central message of the report is that global milestones for reducing TB are off track, and a major obstacle is funding.
In 2024, only US$5.9 billion was available for TB prevention, diagnosis, and treatment—just over a quarter of the US$22 billion annual target set for 2027.
Alarmingly, global funding has stagnated since 2020, and cuts from 2025 onward pose a serious challenge.
Modelling studies cited in the report warn that long-term cuts to international donor funding could result in up to 2 million additional deaths and 10 million people falling ill with TB between 2025 and 2035.
Even short-term disruptions could lead to hundreds of thousands of excess deaths.The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria remains the largest international donor for low- and middle-income countries.
The report underscores the vital importance of its upcoming replenishment, scheduled to take place in South Africa in just 10 days.Global TB research funding is also lagging, reaching only US$1.2 billion in 2023, a mere 24 percent of the target.
Despite this, the pipeline for new tools is strong. As of August 2025, 63 diagnostic tests were in development, 29 drugs were in clinical trials (up from just 8 in 2015), and 18 vaccine candidates were undergoing clinical trials, including 6 in Phase 3.
Call to Action
“We are at a defining moment in the fight against TB,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Department for HIV, TB, Hepatitis, and STIs.
“Funding cuts and persistent drivers of the epidemic threaten to undo hard-won gains, but with political commitment, sustained investment, and global solidarity, we can turn the tide and end this ancient killer once and for all.”
The report serves as a powerful call to action, concluding that with major funding cuts looming, strong political leadership and increased domestic investment in high-burden countries are now absolutely critical.
The choices made today, WHO states, will determine whether the world accelerates progress or allows hard-won gains to slip away.
