Funding cuts jeopardize global fight against tuberculosis – WHO warns

Funding cuts jeopardize global fight against tuberculosis – WHO warns

The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that severe funding cuts – particularly by the United States – are threatening decades of progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), still the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

The health agency highlighted that essential prevention, testing and treatment services  were  collapsing, leaving millions at risk.

The hardest-hit regions include Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific, where national TB programmes depend heavily on international support.

“Any disruption to TB services – whether financial, political or operational – can have devastating and often fatal consequences for millions worldwide,”  Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO Global Programme on TB and Lung Health, said in a statement on Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, had on Feb. 24.  also raised the alarm over funding cuts, noting the immediate impact on key health programmes combatting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and cholera.

Over the past two decades, global TB programmes have saved more than 79 million lives, averting approximately 3.65 million deaths last year alone.

A significant portion of this success has been driven by U.S. Government funding, which has provided about $200 to $250 million annually – approximately a quarter of the total international donor funding secured.