The World Health Organisation (WHO) has attributed the rising number of cases and deaths stemming from tuberculosis to the COVID-19 pandemic, which it says has disrupted the fight against TB.
According to the WHO, Africa made progress in the fight against tuberculosis and reduced cases by 19 per cent between 2015 and 2020. It said the African region is home to 17 of the 30 countries that have the highest burden of tuberculosis globally, and that the trend has seen the region tread the red line following the rise in cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although times are hard to overcome, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said that the African government must work hard to improve access to essential health services, although times are hard to overcome the pandemic.
She said the World Health Organization had put in place a strategic plan to end the disease by 2030 compared to the 2015 goal that aimed for a 90 per cent reduction.
According to WHO, 13 countries achieved the target of reducing deaths by 30 per cent in 2020, and analysis also found that there were significant data gaps in key areas due in part to the challenges posed by the pandemic.
They said most countries do not report data on tuberculosis preventive treatment, especially those living with HIV, including Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Reigning in this preventable, curable disease calls for matching resources to political will. We need to increase investment in diagnosis and treatment to get back on track, ” Dr Moeti said in the report released yesterday.
According to an analysis by the organization, the record also measures the proportion of households experiencing catastrophic costs due to tuberculosis.
Patients and their households can face severe direct and indirect financial and economic costs, that pose barriers that can greatly affect their access to diagnosis and treatment. Eight countries completed the tuberculosis cost surveys for 2020.
WHO revealed that no country has yet demonstrated that it has met the target of having no tuberculosis-affected households face catastrophic costs.
They said tuberculosis is the leading killer of people with HIV in the African region, which has the highest burden of HIV-associated tuberculosis. Factors including insufficient funding for programmes, limited access to modern diagnostic tools as well as the low implementation of preventive treatment hinder progress against the disease.
Addressing factors such as poor living and working conditions as well as risk factors including HIV infection, malnutrition, diabetes, smoking and alcohol abuse has the potential to drive down the tuberculosis epidemic.
This is possible through collaborative efforts involving the health sector, other government bodies, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, donors, and communities.