Inequities underlie the alarming resurgence of Tuberculosis as the world's top cause of death from an Infectious Disease - Breaking the silence and addressing the underlying root causes

Alimuddin Zumla; Suvanand Sahu; Lucica Ditiu; Urvasha Singh; Young-Joon Park; Dorothy Yeboah-Manu; Stephen Osei-Wusu; Danny Asogun; Peter Nyasulu; John Tembo; Nathan Kapata; Fatma Alyaqoubi; Amal Al Maani; Lucille Blumberg; Adam Zumla; Rizwan Ahmed; Unyeong Go; David S Hui; Delia Goletti; Eskild Petersen

doi:10.1016/j.ijregi.2025.100587

Inequities underlie the alarming resurgence of Tuberculosis as the world's top cause of death from an Infectious Disease - Breaking the silence and addressing the underlying root causes

IJID Reg. 2025 Mar 19;14(Suppl 2):100587. doi: 10.1016/j.ijregi.2025.100587. eCollection 2025 Mar.

Authors

Alimuddin Zumla¹, Suvanand Sahu², Lucica Ditiu², Urvasha Singh³, Young-Joon Park⁴, Dorothy Yeboah-Manu⁵, Stephen Osei-Wusu⁵, Danny Asogun⁶, Peter Nyasulu⁷, John Tembo⁸, Nathan Kapata⁹, Fatma Alyaqoubi¹⁰, Amal Al Maani¹⁰, Lucille Blumberg¹¹, Adam Zumla¹², Rizwan Ahmed¹², Unyeong Go¹³, David S Hui¹⁴, Delia Goletti¹⁵, Eskild Petersen¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infection, Centre for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
² Stop TB Partnership Secretariat, Global Health Campus, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Central TB Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi, India.
⁴ Department of Infectious Disease Policy, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Cheongju, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Bacteriology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
⁶ Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria.
⁷ Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁸ HerpeZ, and UNZA-UCLMS Programs, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Apex University School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia.
¹⁰ The Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman.
¹¹ National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa and Right to Care; University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science, South Africa.
¹² Royal Bolton Hospital, Respiratory Department, Bolton NHS Foundation NHSTrust, Bolton, and Institute of Medicine, University of Greater Manchester, UK.
¹³ Center for Infectious Diseases, Green Cross Laboratories, Yongin, Republic of Korea.
¹⁴ Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
¹⁵ Translational Research Unit, National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani"- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Rome, Italy.
¹⁶ Department of Science and Environment, PandemiXcenter, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark.

Abstract

•The WHO End TB strategy is stalling as shown in the Global Tuberculosis Report 2023.•The main reason is unequal access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment.•Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment must be expanded outside urban centers down to the smallest and most remote unit.•Screening risk populations for latent tuberculosis will help identify infected persons before they develop active tuberculosis.

Publication types

Editorial