The World is not in track to accomplish the objectives set by the WHO to eliminate TB. Discuss the statement in the light of Global TB report 2019.

Under the End TB Strategy, the WHO aims to attain the following objectives compared to 2015 levels:

• Reduce TB deaths by 35 per cent and TB incidence rate to 20 per cent by 2020
• Reduce TB deaths by 90 per cent and TB incidence rate to 80 per cent by 2030
• Decrease TB deaths by 95 per cent and TB incidence rate to 90 per cent by 2035

To achieve the targets set above, the WHO has set three broad indicators:

• The TB incidence rate,
• The number of TB deaths per year and
• The percentage of patients facing catastrophic costs due to infectious bacterial disease.

Global Tuberculosis Report 2019

• The world is not on track to reach the 2020 milestones of the End TB Strategy.
• The END TB strategy by the WHO aimed to reduce TB by 20 per cent from 2015-18. But only 6.3 per cent of TB cases showed a cumulative decline between 2015 and 2018. Even the reduction in TB deaths was also not as per expectations, according to the report.
• The global decline in the total number of TB deaths was 11 per cent between 2015 and 2018. This was less than one-third of the way towards the End TB Strategy milestone of 35 per cent decrease by 2020.
• The world is not on track about the former two indicators, the third one too presents a dismal picture. The catastrophic costs ranged from 27 per cent to 83 per cent for all forms of TB, and from 67 per cent to 100 per cent for drug-resistant TB.
• TB remains the top infectious killer in the world claiming over 4,000 lives a day.

Catastrophic costs are defined as the total cost of TB treatment, which exceeds 20 per cent of the annual income of the household.