TB is the leading infectious killer of young and middle-aged adults in the world. It causes 26 percent of avoidable deaths in the developing world. TB kills 30 percent of AIDS victims in Africa and Asia, and HIV accelerates the progression to active TB by up to one hundredfold. The burden of TB is expected to increase, with 80 million deaths over the next three decades. TB's negative impact on the social fabric of families and their nutrition security is enormous.
Malaria is a major health problem in parts of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific.
However, Africa faces the greatest burden of the disease. Each year 300 to 500 million people become ill with malaria and 1.5 to 2.7 million people die. Ninety percent of this mortality is in Africa, in children under the age of 5. Pregnant women are also severely affected, and so are their developing fetuses. Malaria is on the increase due to insecticide resistance, antimalarial drug resistance, and environmental changes.