Pakistan remains fifth among top high-burden TB countries
KARACHI: Pakistan's struggle with tuberculosis continues, ranking fifth among countries with the highest burden of the disease globally, according to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2024 released on October 29. The country reported an estimated 686,000 TB cases and 48,577 deaths in 2023, accounting for 6.3% of the global TB burden. Pakistan joins India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), and the Philippines (6.8%) in shouldering 56% of the global TB burden. In 2022, India accounted for 27% of the disease load, followed by Indonesia (10%), China (7.1%), the Philippines (7%), Pakistan (5.7%), Nigeria (4.5%), Bangladesh (3.6%), and Democratic Republic of Congo (3%). Rising TB deaths and notifications Pakistan's TB deaths in 2023 included those among people living with HIV who also suffered from TB. The number of newly diagnosed or relapsed cases notified with TB rose to 475,761, up from 424,566 in 2022 and 339,256 in 2021. Globally, TB ...