The world is not on track to end TB or end tobacco: Why?
While remarkable progress has been made in the fight against TB, mountainous challenges still remain towards #endTB: "More than 3.8 million people were put on TB treatment in 2023 in WHO Southeast Asian region - the highest ever reported in any single year. At the same time, the number of people who were being missed by the TB programmes in this region halved between 2020-2023 (from 44% in 2020 to 22% in 2023). TB deaths reduced too. "From 763,000 TB deaths in 2021 in WHO Southeast Asian region, the number came downwards to 583,000 in 2023," said Dr Bhatia.
Undernutrition is the biggest TB risk factor globally
Undernutrition is not only the biggest TB risk factor worldwide but also in WHO Southeast Asian region.
As per the WHO Global TB Report 2024, globally, out of the estimated 10.8 million new TB cases in 2023 (however, only 8.2 million were reported by TB programmes worldwide, rest were missed), almost one million of them were attributed to undernutrition, 752,000 TB cases were attributed to alcohol, 702,000 TB cases were attributed to tobacco use, 681,000 TB cases were attributed to HIV, and 381,000 TB cases were attributed to diabetes.
In WHO Southeast Asian region, out of the estimated 4.9 million TB cases in 2023 (of which only 3.8 million cases were notified), over half a million (552,000) TB cases were attributed to undernutrition, followed by 328,000 attributed to tobacco use, 311,000 attributed to alcohol use, 173,000 attributed to diabetes and 92,000 attributed to HIV.
Tobacco is the biggest TB risk factor in Indonesia
Although undernutrition is overall the biggest TB risk factor globally as well as in southeast Asian region, but for Indonesia, tobacco smoking is the biggest risk factor (followed by undernutrition, diabetes, HIV and alcohol use), said Dr Bhatia.
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