ISLAMABAD According to The News on Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified Pakistan as one of the top five high-burden nations where the number of TB infections hit a record high in 2023.
The nation, together with China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, accounted for more than half of the 10.8 million instances of the disease globally, according to the global health agency. This highlights a persistent public health issue even with the availability of prevention and treatment measures.
According to the WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, the number of newly diagnosed TB cases increased from 7.5 million in 2022 to 8.2 million in 2023, the most since worldwide surveillance started in 1995.
With 1.25 million fatalities, TB surpassed COVID-19 as the most common infectious disease in 2023.
