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The TB Epidemic

• Tuberculosis (TB) kills about two million people each year, making it one of the world's leading infectious causes of death among young people and adults.1
  
  
• One-third of the world's population is infected with TB. Five to 10 percent of people who are infected with TB become sick with TB at some time during their life.2
  
  
• Each year, nearly 9 million people become sick with TB.3
  
  
• Due to a combination of economic decline, the breakdown of health systems, insufficient application of TB control measures, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), TB is on the rise in many developing and transitional economies.4
  
  
• Between 2000 and 2020, it is estimated that:
  
  
  • Nearly one billion people will be newly infected with TB.
  • 200 million people will become sick from TB.
  • TB will claim at least 35 million lives.5

Impact on Women and Children

• TB is a leading cause of death among women of reproductive age and is estimated to cause more deaths among this group than all causes of maternal mortality.6
  
  
• Women are less likely than men to be tested and treated for TB, and are also less likely to develop an infection.7
  
  
• Over 250,000 children die every year of TB. Children are particularly vulnerable to TB infection because of frequent household contact. 8

Regional Impact

• Low- and lower-middle-income countries (those with an annual GNP per capita of less than US$2,995) account for more than 90% of TB cases and deaths.9 The regions most affected by TB include:
  
  
  • Southeast Asia: With an estimated three million new cases of TB each year, this is the world's hardest-hit region.
    
  • Eastern Europe: In Eastern Europe, TB deaths are increasing after almost 40 years of steady decline.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: More than 1.5 million TB cases occur in Sub-Saharan Africa each year. This number is rising rapidly, largely due to high prevalence of HIV.10

Social, Economic, and Development Impact

• Poverty, a lack of basic health services, poor nutrition, and inadequate living conditions all contribute to the spread of TB. In turn, illness and death from TB reinforces and deepens poverty in many communities.11
  
  
• The average TB patient loses three to four months of work time as a result of TB. Lost earnings can total up to 30% of annual household income.12 Some families lose 100% of their income.13
  
  
• TB is estimated to deplete the incomes of the world's poorest communities by a total of US$12 billion.14
  
  
• More than 75% of TB-related disease and death occurs among people between the ages of 15 to 54 - the most economically active segment of the population.15
  
  

TB and HIV/AIDS

• HIV/AIDS and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other's progress. HIV promotes rapid progression of primary TB infection to active disease and is the most powerful known risk factor for reactivation of latent TB infection to active disease.16
  
  
• TB is a leading killer of people living with HIV/AIDS.17
  
  
• One-third of people infected with HIV will develop TB.18

Prevention and Care

• TB infection can be prevented, treated and contained. The World Health Organization recommends a strategy for detection and cure called DOTS.19
  
  
• DOTS combines five elements: political commitment, microscopy services, drug supplies, surveillance and monitoring systems, and use of highly efficacious regimes with direct observation of treatment.20
  
  
• Drugs for DOTS can cost only US$10 per person for the full treatment course (six to eight months).21 DOTS is successful and has a success rate of up to 80% in the poorest countries, prevents new infections by curing infectious patients.22
  
  
• It has been estimated that the gap is U$300 million a year to address the TB epidemic in low and middle-income countries.23

[1]  “Basic Facts on TB: Stop TB, fight poverty”, The Stop TB Partnership, March 24, 2002.

[2] Ibid.

[3] WHO Tuberculosis Control Report, Geneva: World Health Organization, March 2002.

[4] “Basic Facts on TB: Stop TB, fight poverty”, The Stop TB Partnership, March 24, 2002..

[5] Ibid.

[61]  World Health Report 2001, Geneva: World Health Organization, 2001.

[7] Long NH, Johansson E, Winkvist A, Diwan V, International Journal Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases 1999; 3:388-93.

[8] “Tuberculosis and children”, The Stop TB Partnership/ IPA, 2001.

[9] “Basic Facts on TB: Stop TB, fight poverty”, The Stop TB Partnership, March 24, 2002..

[10]   WHO Tuberculosis Control Report, Geneva: World Health Organization, March 2002.

[11] “Basic Facts on TB: Stop TB, fight poverty”, The Stop TB Partnership, March 24, 2002.

[12] The Economic Impacts of Tuberculosis.  The Stop TB Initiative, 2000 Series. Presented at the Ministerial Conference, Amsterdam, March 22-24, 2000.

[13] data will be published in June 2002 at the 4th World Congress on Tuberculosis.

[14] “Basic Facts on TB: Stop TB, fight poverty”, The Stop TB Partnership, March 24, 2002.

[15] The Economic Impacts of Tuberculosis.  The Stop TB Initiative, 2000 Series. Presented at the Ministerial Conference, Amsterdam, March 22-24, 2000.

[16] “TB/HIV: The Facts,” UNAIDS, December 1, 2000.

[17]  WHO Strategic Framework to Decrease the Burden of TB/HIV, Geneva: World Health Organization, March 2002.

[18]Ibid.

[19] WHO Tuberculosis Control Report, Geneva: World Health Organization, March 2002.

[20] Ibid.

[21] TB Drug Facility: Prospectus, Stop TB Partnership Secretariat, WHO, March 2001.

[22] WHO Tuberculosis Control Report, Geneva: World Health Organization, March 2002.

[23] Ibid.