GLOBAL
TUBERCULOSISREPORT 2019

TB SITUATION AND RESPONSE
58 million lives saved
between 2000 and 2018
TB deaths fell by 38%
in the same period

1.5 MILLION
TB DEATHSINCLUDING 251 000
TB DEATHS AMONGPEOPLE WITH HIV

TB is the top
infectious killer worldwide
TB is also the leading cause ofdeaths among people with HIV
and a major cause of antimicrobial
resistance related deaths

Drug resistant TB remains
a public health crisis with gaps
in detection and treatment
Only 1 in 3 needing treatment
were enrolled on it

US$ 3.3
BILLIONGAP
Funding shortfall for
TB implementation
Gap of over
US$ 1.2 billion per year
for TB research• T uberculosis (TB) is contagious and airborne.
• T B was one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide in 2018. It
is also the leading killer of people with HIV and a major cause ofdeaths related to antimicrobial resistance.
THE BURDEN• I n 2018, there were an estimated 10 (9.0—11.1) million new(incident) TB cases worldwide, of which 5.7 million were men, 3.2
million were women and 1.1 million were children. People living withHIV accounted for 9% of the total.
• E ight countries accounted for 66% of the new cases: India, China,Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and SouthAfrica.
• I n 2018, 1.5 (1.4—1.6) million people died from TB, including 251 000(223 000—281 000) people with HIV.
•G
 lobally, the TB mortality rate fell by 42% between 2000 and 2018.
• T he severity of national epidemics varies widely among countries. In 2018,
there were fewer than 10 new cases per 100 000 population in most highincome countries, 150 - 400 in most of the 30 high TB burden countries,
and above 500 in a few countries including Mozambique, the Philippinesand South Africa.
TB CARE AND PREVENTION• T B treatment saved 58 (53—64) million lives globally between 2000 and 2018.
• I n 2018, 7 million new TB cases were notified to national authorities andreported to WHO. This reflects a gap of 3 million between incident and notifiedcases. Ten countries accounted for about 80% of the gap, with India, Nigeria,
Indonesia and the Philippines accounting for more than half of the total.
• T he global treatment success rate for people newly diagnosed with TB was
85% in 2017.
DRUG-RESISTANT TB•G lobally in 2018, 484 000 (417 000—556 000) people developed TB that wasresistant to o rifampicin-resistant (RR-TB), the most effective first-line drug, and ofthese, 78% had multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
•1
 87 000 cases of MDR/RR-TB were detected and notified in 2018. Of these, a
total of 156 000 were enrolled and started on treatment with a second-line regimen.
• T reatment success rate at 56%, remains low globally.
•A mong cases of MDR-TB in 2018, 6.2% were estimated to have extensively drugresistant TB (XDR-TB).
ADDRESSING THE CO-EPIDEMICS OF TB AND HIV• I n 2018, there were 477 000 reported cases of TB among people living with HIV, of whom
86% were on antiretroviral therapy.
•M ost of the gaps in detection and treatment were in the WHO African Region, where theburden of HIV-associated TB is highest.

GLOBAL TUBERCULOSIS REPORT 2019

TB PREVENTIVE TREATMENT•W HO recommends preventive treatment for people living with HIV and all contacts living in households with TB.
•A total of 748 000 people who were newly enrolled in HIV care were started on TB preventivetreatment in 2018 (only 49% of people newly enrolled in HIV care).
• I n addition, the number of children aged under 5 years who were started on TB preventive treatment
reached 349 000 in 2018 -- a four-fold increase from 2015 but much less than the 4 million estimatedto be eligible.
UPTAKE OF DIAGNOSTICS, NEW DRUGS AND REGIMENS• T he WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic test (WRD) for detection of TB and rifampicin resistancecurrently available is the Xpert MTB/RIF® assay. Of the 48 countries in at least one of the lists ofhigh burden countries, 37 had adopted national algorithms positioning the WRD as the initialdiagnostic test for all people suspected of having pulmonary TB by the end of 2018.
•B y the end of 2018, 90 countries reported having imported or started using bedaquiline, and 57
countries had used delamanid.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT• A small number of technologies emerged in 2018–2019 and several have not demonstrated
adequate performance in field evaluation studies. There is still no single rapid, accurate androbust TB diagnostic test suitable for use at the point of care.
• Fourteen vaccine candidates are in clinical trials: three in Phase I, eight in Phase II and three
in Phase III. They include candidates to prevent the development of latent TB infection and TB
disease, and candidates to help improve the outcomes of treatment for TB disease.
• There are 23 drugs and several combination treatment regimens in clinical trials.
• Funding for TB research and development has increased and reached a peak of US$ 772
million in 2017. However, this is only 39% of the estimated requirement of US$ 2 billion
per year.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE AND SOCIAL PROTECTION•A ll of the 30 high TB burden countries need to increase service coverage and reducelevels of catastrophic expenditures to reach Universal Health Coverage, consistent withfindings from surveys of costs faced by TB patients and their households.
• T he Global TB Report features a TB-SDG monitoring framework that focuses attention
on 14 indicators that are associated with TB incidence. Monitoring of these indicators
can be used to identify key influences on the TB epidemic at national level and informthe multisectoral actions required to end it.
•M any new cases of TB are attributable to undernourishment, HIV infection, smoking,diabetes and alcohol use.

TB FINANCING• T he funding required for a full response to the global TB epidemic in low- andmiddle-income countries is estimated at US$ 10.1 billion in 2019, excluding
research and development.
•U S$ 6.8 billion was available for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment in 2018,
leaving a funding gap of almost US$ 3.3 billion.
•8 7% of the funding available in 2019 is from domestic sources. However, thisglobal aggregate figure is strongly influenced by BRICS countries.
• I nternational donor funding accounts for 38% of the funding available in the25 high TB burden countries outside BRICS and 49% of funding available in
low-income countries.
• I nternational donor funding led by the Global Fund and US Government
remains critical, especially in these countries.
• F or research and development, at least an extra US$ 1.2 billion per year isneeded to accelerate the development of new tools.
The WHO GLOBAL TB PROGRAMME together with WHO regional and country offices:develops policies, strategies and standards; supports the efforts of WHO Member States; measuresprogress towards TB targets and assesses national programme performance, financing and impact;
promotes research; and facilitates partnerships, advocacy and communication. More information:www.who.int/tb

GLOBAL TUBERCULOSIS REPORT 2019

REQUIRED IN 2019
US$ 10.1 BILLIONFOR TB DIAGNOSISAND CARE
US$ 6.8 BILLION AVAILABLE IN 2019
OF WHICH
US$ 5.9 BILLIONDOMESTICFINANCINGAND
US$ 0.9 BILLIONINTERNATIONALFINANCINGGAP OF
US$ 3.3
BILLION

US$ 2 BILLIONREQUIRED PER YEAR FOR
TB RESEARCH
US$ 1.2 BILLIONFUNDING GAP