WHO Marks Progress Against TB in Face of Funding Cuts

Coverage for tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and care has increased, but with higherTB incidence and related deaths than milestone targets for the decade and with less funding than had been committed, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report¹ released November 12.

The WHO found a 12% reduction in TB incidence rate in 2025 compared with 2015, but noted this was markedly lower than the milestone of 50% reduction by 2025 in its strategy to end TB as a global threat.The number of TB deaths was reduced by 29% in this decade, but the milestone was 75%; and while the percentage of TB-affected households facing catastrophic costs was reduced by 47%, it was not reduced to the milestone of zero by this year.

"WHO's Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 shows that progress is possible, even in the face of persistent challenges," Tereza Kasavea, MD, PhD, Director, WHO Department of HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections, remarked in an introduction to the report.

In that introduction, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, WHO Director-General, warned that progress is jeopardized by failure of international donors to meet commitments. "This is a crucial period," he stated. "Even as we must strive to meet the commitments from the second United Nations high-level meeting on TB, we have entered a new period of scarcity."

In the November press release accompanying publication of the Report, the reduction in global funding for TB was described as a major obstacle to achieving the goals set at the United Nations in 2023.² The US $5.9 billion that was available in 2024 for prevention diagnosis and treatment is just over a quarter of the US$22 billion annual target set for 2027.

"We are at a defining moment in the fight against TB," Kasavea remarked. "Funding cuts and persistent drivers of the epidemic threaten to undo hard-won gains.

Despite challenges, there were major advances in TB diagnosis and treatment documented in the 2025 report including:

• In 2024, 8.3 million people were newly diagnosed with TB and accessed treatment, representing about 78% of the people who fell ill with the disease during that year;
• The coverage of rapid testing for TB diagnosis increased from 48% in 2023 to 54% in 2024;
• Treatment for drug-susceptible TB remained highly effective, with a success rate of 88%;
• The number of people developing drug-resistant TB each year has been declining with over 164,000 people receiving treatment in 2024. The latest data show an improvement in the treatment success rate, to 71%, up from 68% the previous year;
• In 2024, 5.3 million people at high risk of TB received preventive treatment, up from 4.7 million in 2023.

Notably, over 100 countries achieved at least a 20% reduction in TB incidence rates, and 65 countries achieved reductions of 35% or more in TB-related deaths.These countries were recognized in the report for attaining the first milestones of the WHO End TB strategy.

The progress is likely to stall, however, with the cuts in international donor funding. Modeling studies are cited which project that continued funding cuts could result in up to 2 million additional deaths and 10 million people falling ill with TB between 2025 and 2035.

References

1. World Health Organization (WHO). Global Tuberculosis Report 2025. November 12, 2025. https://www.who.int/teams/global-programme-on-tuberculosis-and-lung-health/tb-reports.

2. WHO. Global gains in tuberculosis response endangered by funding challenges. News Release. November 12, 2025. https://www.who.int/teams/global-programme-on-tuberculosis-and-lung-health/tb-reports.