Sub-Sahara ought to change tack in TB war

Published 26 Oct,2021 via Business Daily - Before Covid-19 came along, tuberculosis (TB) was a primary focus of health authorities in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2019, approximately 1.4 million people were diagnosed with TB in the region, but epidemiologists estimated that 1 million more had TB but were neither diagnosed nor treated.

The scope and intensity of the global TB epidemic is fuelled by antiquated and inadequate TB drugs, most of which were developed more than 50 years ago. But, given how contagious TB is, we need to find and treat many more people. And then came Covid-19, the only infectious disease that killed more people than TB in 2020. The regional numbers have held steady this past year, according to the WHO, but a deeper dive shows that more attention is needed.

In Nigeria, Africa’s largest country by population, nearly three out of every four cases of TB were missed. Ethiopia, Africa’s second-largest country, fared better, missing less than one out of every three cases. Kenya, a hub for international development in East Africa, missed almost half its TB cases.South Africa — which has one of the heaviest burdens in the world of drug-resistant TB infections, TB/HIV co-infections, and all TB infections in total — missed 40 percent of its cases in 2020.