Global TB response is off track, and urgent actions are needed to end the world’s deadliest infectious killer.
Even with advances in diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments, tuberculosis remains the top cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide. The WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 shows that progress toward the End TB targets and the Sustainable Development Goals is slower than hoped, with projections suggesting these goals may not be reached until roughly the middle of the century. In 2024, about 10.7 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.23 million died, including around 160,000 people living with HIV. Since 2015, global TB incidence has fallen by only 12%, and deaths by 29%—well short of the 2025 targets of 50% reductions in incidence and 75% in mortality. The gap between ambition and reality has widened.
A commentary published in The Lancet argues that ending TB now requires a fundamental shift in how we innovate—one that changes structures, operations, and social approaches in addition to biomedical advances.
Access the full commentary here (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)02433-X/fulltext?rss=yes). Free registration is required.
For further TB updates, see the TB CAB Weekly Newsletter (Issue #38, 12 December 2025) at https://mailchi.mp/c7948c776213/tb-cab-weekly-newsletter-38-2025?e=9cfc8b5c3b. This newsletter is produced by the Global TB Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) with support from Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). You can subscribe here: https://globaltbcab.us11.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=389a28e2dadc57faaeb892fb9&id=ae7bcd30bb.
