Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by bacteria (mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs. Tuberculosis is curable and preventable. TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected. About one-third of the world’s population has latent TB, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with disease and cannot transmit the disease. People infected with TB bacteria have a 10% lifetime risk of falling ill with TB. However persons with compromised immune systems, such as people living with HIV, malnutrition, diabetes or people who use tobacco, have a much higher risk of falling ill. In the absence of proper treatment, approximately two thirds of people ill with TB will die.

Researchers have established that the high prevalence of TB is related to the HIV epidemic. One third of people living with HIV worldwide are infected with TB bacteria as a result of their compromised immune system. These individuals are 21-34 times more likely to develop active TB disease than people without HIV. Almost 25% of deaths among people with HIV are due to TB. Tuberculosis (TB) is second to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent. According to WHO report in 2011, 8.7 million people fell ill with TB and 1.4 million people died from TB. Over 95% of TB deaths occur in developing countries and it is among the top three causes of death for women aged 15-44. In 2010, there were about 10 million orphan children as a result of TB deaths among parents. TB occurs in every part of the world but Sub-Saharan Africa carries the greatest proportion of new cases per population with over 260 cases per 100,000 of the population in 2011. Tuberculosis is a major public health threat that requires a collaborative and aggressive approach. 

Our interventions for TB prevention, treatment and control aligns with the WHO’s Stop TB Strategy which is recommended for implementation by all countries and partners, aims to dramatically reduce TB by public and private actions at national and local levels such as: