WHO Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2008 released

This latest report finds that the pace of global efforts to control the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic slowed slightly in 2006, as did progress in diagnosing people with the airborne infectious disease that is both preventable and curable.

Global Tuberculosis Control 2008 (to read or download, go to: http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/en/index.html released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), reports there were 9.2 million new cases of TB in 2006, including 700,000 cases among people living with HIV, and 500,000 cases of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).

In addition, an estimated 1.5 million people died from TB in 2006, while another 200,000 people with HIV died from HIV-associated TB.

The 12th annual report, which contains data up to 2006 provided by 202 countries and territories, cites several reasons for the slowdown in progress, including that some successful programmes at the national level have not been able to maintain their efforts at the same pace in recent years. There has also been no increase in the detection of TB cases through national programmes in a number of African countries.