World TB Day 2025

As devastating funding cuts threaten progress against tuberculosis, Unitaid poised to commit new support – and calls for partners to join in

Every year, more people die of tuberculosis (TB) than of any other infectious disease. Despite being treatable and curable if diagnosed early, TB killed 1.25 million people in 2023 alone – nearly all of them in low- and middle-income countries. As World TB Day (24 March) draws attention to the response, devastating cuts in foreign aid funding have severely impacted the global TB response.

In his opening remarks at the last media briefing on global health issues, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the extent of the impact. Twenty-seven countries in Africa and Asia face severe breakdowns in the TB response, with staff shortages, disrupted diagnosis and treatment, collapsing data systems, and reduced community engagement. Nine countries report failing supply chains for TB medicines, putting the lives of millions of people at risk.

“The TB response faces a decisive moment: we have a set of innovative diagnostic tools, more effective medicines, and high-quality preventive treatments available, but we must act now or risk reversing decades of progress,” said Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director at Unitaid. “Unitaid is committed to advancing affordable, high-quality innovations to help countries implement cost-saving solutions amidst the drastic reductions in foreign aid. But we need to see increases in support from donors, partners and countries worldwide to solidify our progress.”

As the world’s largest multilateral funder of TB research and product development, we are dedicated to advancing innovative solutions to reduce the TB burden. Over the last years, we have made significant strides in the fight to end TB – we are behind some critical work to advance new treatment regimens for multidrug-resistant TB; drastically improve access to testing equipment that can quickly identify drug-sensitivity; develop medicines and better diagnostics for children with TB; and ensure that all at-risk populations can benefit from better TB preventive treatments and therapies.

Growing resistance to the drugs conventionally used to treat TB is of particular concern, making it even harder to quickly diagnose and effectively treat TB. Until recently, identifying and treating DR-TB was long and costly, often involving daily injections for 2 years, with severe side effects. Innovative diagnostic tools that can quickly identify drug-resistant forms of TB and shorter, safer, more effective, all-oral treatment regimens promise to provide new hope to people with DR-TB.

We will soon launch new investments aimed at tackling the growing threat of drug-resistance through community-led initiatives, advancing access to novel treatments, as well as to next-generation testing to enable appropriate care. Through all our initiatives, we are working to drive efficiencies, lower costs, and accelerate the scale up of innovative tools to make TB care more effective and accessible when and where needed.

This World TB Day, we join the efforts of the global TB community, more than ever, to “commit, invest, deliver.” Because yes, we can end TB – but it will require significant renewed commitment from governments and partners to sustain our gains in the fight against TB and ensure that millions of people across the world have access to quality care.