Daily Times

Tuberculosis (TB) cases have risen in Pakistan by 42.5 percent in the last three years with 47,000 people dying of the illness in 2023, official data shows, as the government says it will stamp out the disease by 2035 despite inadequate resources for screening and treatment. TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria. It spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit, though it is preventable and curable, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The disease is the second leading infectious killer after the coronavirus (above HIV and AIDS) and about a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria. It remains one of the major public health problems in Pakistan as the South Asian nation of 241 million ranks fifth among high-burden TB countries worldwide. In Pakistan, TB cases registered increase from 272,990 in 2020 to 474,981 in 2023, with a treatment success rate of more than 90 percent, according to official data. The disease killed 48,000 people in 2021, 46,000 in 2022, and 47,000 people in 2023. Currently, there are a total of 608,000 TB cases registered with the National TB Control Program.