Facts and Figures of Tuberculosis

In 2012, 8.6 million people fell ill with TB. A total of 1.3 million people died from TB, including 320, 000 people with HIV. TB remains one of the world's top infectious killers. About 95% of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries and it is among the top three causes of death among women aged 15 to 44. But tuberculosis is curable and preventable.

The number of people falling ill with TB is declining and the TB death rate dropped by 45% since 1990. About 80% of reported TB cases occurred in 22 countries in 2012. TB occurs in every part of the world. Nearly 60% of new TB cases occurred in Asia in 2012. The greatest rate of new cases per capita was in sub-Saharan Africa. No country has ever eliminated this disease.

Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) does not respond to standard treatments and is difficult and costly to treat. MDR-TB is a form of TB that is present in virtually all countries surveyed by WHO. The primary cause of multi-drug resistance is the inappropriate or incorrect use of anti-TB drugs. An estimated 450, 000 people developed MDR-TB in 2012.

In some cases, an even more severe form of multi-drug resistant TB may develop with bad treatment. Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is a form of TB that responds to even fewer available medicines. About 56 million TB patients have been successfully treated since 1995 worldwide.
Up to 22 million lives have been saved since 1995 through DOTS and the Stop TB Strategy. The world is on track to achieve two global TB targets set for 2015:

• The Millennium Development Goal, which aims to halt and reverse global incidence
• The Stop TB Partnership target of halving deaths from TB (in comparison with 1990)

References: Department of Health NTP Manual