Any TB cure feat springboard for eradication
Information on tuberculosis (TB) which the World Health Organisation (WHO) posted online on March 14, 2025 has it among other things that “TB has probably returned to being the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following three years in which it was replaced by coronavirus disease (COVID-19).”
This is supported with the fact that a total of 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023 and that TB is present in all countries and age groups.
This is scary though, but followed with a fact that gives some hope to the effect that global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 79 million lives since the year 2000.
All in all, the good news is that TB is preventable and curable.
However, it must be noted that the prevention and cure do not come easily as it takes a lot of money to do so.
On this note, The Ghanaian Times wishes to commend the country for being able to treat and cure over 90 per cent of 20,599 TB cases recorded last year, with the Global Fund supporting it to chalk up the achievement.
The feat, described by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) as a milestone, is said to be the first such case in history for the country to see a decline of 5.1 per cent in TB-related deaths, a significant improvement on previous years’ percentages.
The feat notwithstanding, it is clear that the country has huge problems regarding its fight against TB, which urgently need to be addressed.
Is it not sad that 24,000 adult TB cases and 3,500 paediatric ones were missed last year due to insufficient domestic resources to support TB detection and treatment?
Described as having devastating health, social and economic consequences and being one of the deadliest infectious diseases, as well as a global public health epidemic, TB is being fought globally, meaning that a good number of countries accepting to be poor would expect funding from sources like Global Fund.
The fear is that one day these sources would say their resources have been over-stretched; at this point the probability is that only the genuinely poorest among the poor could be considered.
Therefore, this should prompt the government to prepare enough to fight a health, social and economic hazard like TB.
The WHO says US$ 22 billion is needed annually for TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care to achieve the global target by 2027 agreed at the 2023 UN high level-meeting on TB.
Which single source can provide this huge amount?
This must prompt every country to, at least, plan to contribute financially to fight TB.
We should remember that TB incidence rates remain highest in countries with low human development, social protection spending and TB programme performance.
For its devastating nature, the TB epidemic has been targeted by the United Nations among its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a health hazard that must be ended or eradicated by 2030.
This is necessary because TB can cause a range of effects on patients, including a persistent cough, chest pain, fatigue, weight loss, fever, and night sweats, and can also lead to complications if left untreated, potentially affecting other organs besides the lungs.
This demobilises patients to the extent that adult patients cannot work and neither the young ones can enjoy any health comfort, a situation that prevents those of age from schooling and apprenticeship.
Clearly, TB must be eradicated and so any feat regarding percentages of its treatment and cure must be seen as a springboard to meet the 2030 UN SDG target.
