The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific welcomes the release of the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, which underscores both encouraging progress and major challenges that continue to impede the global and regional response to tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers, claiming over 1.2 million lives and affecting an estimated 10.7 million people last year. While the global burden is declining – TB incidence fell by nearly 2% between 2023 and 2024, and TB deaths decreased by 3% – these gains remain fragile. Persistent funding gaps and inequities in access to diagnosis, treatment, and social protection continue to place progress at risk.
In the Western Pacific Region, an estimated 2.9 million people were affected by TB in 2024, with Indonesia, the Philippines, and China among the world’s top five high-burden countries. The Region has made meaningful progress: access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics continues to expand, uptake of shorter all-oral regimens for drug-resistant TB is increasing, and more people at high risk are receiving TB preventive treatment. These advances demonstrate strong country commitment despite multiple competing health priorities.
However, the gains remain vulnerable. Global TB funding stagnated at US$ 5.9 billion in 2024, far below what is needed, and any reductions in international support could significantly impact high-burden and lower-income countries in the Region. Persistent risk factors – including undernutrition, diabetes, HIV infection, smoking, and harmful alcohol use – continue to fuel TB transmission and worsen outcomes, underscoring the need for multisectoral action and expanded social protection.
“TB continues to cast a long shadow over millions of people in our Region,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Countries have made real progress, but we need greater investment, stronger partnerships, and sustained innovation to accelerate our trajectory toward ending TB. No one should die from a preventable and curable disease.”
WHO in the Western Pacific urges governments and partners to:
- Close critical financing gaps to secure sustainable TB services;
- Expand equitable access to rapid diagnostics, effective treatments, and preventive interventions;
- Address the major risk factors driving TB through strengthened multisectoral action; and
- Support innovation, including next-generation diagnostics, medicines, and vaccines.
WHO remains committed to supporting Member States through targeted technical assistance and to integrating TB services within broader primary health care and universal health coverage efforts.
As the world moves toward 2030, the Western Pacific Region reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that no person with TB is left behind.
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