World TB Day 2025 – ‘Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver’ – conveys a message of optimism, emphasizing that reversing the TB epidemic is achievable. Success depends on strong leadership, increased funding, rapid implementation of WHO’s latest guidelines, adoption of innovative solutions, accelerated efforts, and effective collaboration across multiple sectors.
On March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (TB). This breakthrough was a crucial step toward controlling and eliminating a disease that was widespread and deadly at the time. Today, March 24 is observed as World TB Day to raise awareness about the severe health, social, and economic impacts of TB and to strengthen efforts to end the global epidemic.
The Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, published by WHO, provides an overview of the global TB situation. In 2023, TB cases stabilized at 10.8 million, a slight rise from 10.7 million in 2022, following increases during the COVID-19 pandemic. TB has likely reclaimed its position as the world’s leading infectious disease killer, with 1.25 million deaths reported. Most TB cases in 2023 were in the WHO regions of South-East Asia (43%) followed by Africa (25%) and the Western Pacific (18%). The disease remains concentrated in 30 high-burden countries, accounting for 87% of cases, with India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.8%), and Pakistan (6.3%) being the most affected. While improvements in diagnosis and reporting have led to a record number of new cases detected, funding shortages continue to hinder global TB control and prevention efforts. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat with modest improvements, but significant challenges remain. Only about 2 in 5 people with drug-resistant TB accessed treatment in 2022.
At the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, Heads of State made bold, ambitious commitments to accelerate the global fight against tuberculosis, setting clear, measurable targets for 2027. While these pledges mark an important milestone, sustained and intensified action is essential. To scale up interventions, strong policies, comprehensive national strategies, and significant financial investment are necessary to drive impact at global, regional, and national levels. The political declaration underscored WHO's pivotal role in leading progress, explicitly tasking the organization with supporting Member States to achieve these goals. Over the next three years, WHO's leadership will be crucial in guiding countries, providing essential normative guidance, and delivering targeted technical support to turn commitments into concrete, measurable outcomes.
In 2024, several global meetings were held to address the TB crisis. The Stop TB Partnership Regional Dialogue, held in Manila in March, focused on advocacy, resource mobilization, and targeted actions against TB. The WHO Global Task Force on TB Impact Measurement Meeting, held in September, reviewed methods for estimating TB incidence and mortality, particularly post-COVID-19. The Global Laboratory Initiative Partners Meeting addressed advancements in TB diagnostics, while the Interregional Online Meeting on Multisectoral Accountability Framework for Tuberculosis (MAF-TB) Implementation, in October, shared successful case studies from Brazil and Bangladesh. These initiatives emphasized global collaboration to combat TB.
When considering the national situation, tuberculosis is the second leading infectious disease in Sri Lanka after dengue. TB continues to be a public health problem in Sri Lanka, with an estimated incidence of 62 per 100 000 population (2023) as per WHO estimates. TB treatment coverage (notified/estimated incidence) for 2023 was 65% meaning that around 35% of TB cases either were not diagnosed or reported. The TB fatality ratio in 2023 was 6%. In 2024 the total TB cases were 9180, and there were 8529 new cases, in Sri Lanka, with the highest case load from the Western province.
The National Program for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases (NPTCCD) is the national lead organization for prevention and control of TB in Sri Lanka. TB services are provided through a network of 26 District Chest Clinics, 2 sub-chest clinics, 108 branch clinics and 189 microscopic centers. Diagnostic culture facilities are available at National TB Reference Laboratory and Intermediate TB Laboratories at Rathnapura, Kandy, Jaffna and Galle.
WHO continues to support the NPTCCD in its efforts to eliminate TB in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has committed itself to achieving the ambitious target of bringing down TB incidence to 13 per 100 000 by 2035 from a baseline incidence of 65 per 100 000 in 2015 as per the End TB Strategy.
WHO provided technical assistance to the MoH for the development of an action plan to address the key gaps in TB control program in Sri Lanka taking into consideration recommendations of the TB mid-term review; supported the development of the Multistakeholder Accountability Framework and to conduct a Sensitization programme for district level staff on new Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT) guidelines to facilitate implementation of ambulatory care for drug-resistant TB (DRTB) patients at district level.
Support was provided for the national review of Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) activities and capacity-building programs, including in-service training for health staff to improve tuberculosis case detection and referral in OPD settings at government hospitals. Additionally, district-level staff were sensitized to the new PMDT guidelines to facilitate the implementation of ambulatory care for DRTB patients at the district level. Efforts also included developing a district-level ambulatory care implementation plan for DRTB and updating the 2021 programmatic management guidelines for DRTB.
WHO will continue to support the NPTCCD by offering evidence-based policy recommendations for TB prevention and care, providing specialized technical assistance as required, and strengthening national capacity for sustainable TB elimination.
Reference
Global tuberculosis report 2024
Tuberculosis profile: Sri Lanka
National Programme For Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases