Scientists across the world developed the basics required to fight off a pandemic at dizzying speed following the global outbreak of COVID-19. The equitable deployment of these medical breakthroughs, including vaccines, continues to be a jarring problem. Nevertheless, no one can say that science has been found wanting in responding to the global health crisis.
Not so when it comes to TB. The response to the disease, which has killed more people than any other single infectious agent in history, including SARS-CoV-2, has been dismal on the scientific as well as the political front. The last time a vaccine was developed for it was a 100 years ago. And it has never been treated as an emergency.
What’s particularly concerning is that advances in curbing the disease have suffered a number of setbacks.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been one. In 2020 TB case detection fell by almost 20% and mortality rose for the first time in a decade to 1.5 million. These setbacks are directly attributable to the pandemic.
And then there’s war. Conflicts in Ethiopia, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen have led to countless unnecessary deaths. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is showing the world, yet again, the abhorrent consequences of war. In these desperate conditions, control of infectious diseases breaks down. TB is a case in point.
Ukraine still has one of the highest burdens of TB in Europe. Nearly a third of the people affected have drug-resistant TB. Tom Wingfield and Jessica Potter set out why the war is an impending disaster for TB control in the country, the entire region - and potentially beyond.
As much as the COVID-19 pandemic has set back the fight against TB, there are valuable lessons to be learnt from how the world responded. Richard E. Chaisson spells out what can be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic on how to accelerate progress against a global health threat.
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