UN says tuberculosis epidemic is taking more lives than thought ⁰

The United Nations’ public health authority has criticized the international community for not doing enough to deal with the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic, saying the infectious disease is taking more lives than thought.

Latest data published on Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2016 Global Tuberculosis Report show that countries needed to move much faster to prevent, detect and treat tuberculosis.

TB kills 1.8 million people worldwide each year, not the 1.5 million previously estimated, according to the WHO’s Global TB Report 2016. The tuberculosis epidemic is larger than previously thought, while research into vaccines and cures is “severely underfunded,” WHO warned.

The report emphasized that countries needed to tackle the epidemic through “bold political commitment and increased funding.” The amount of money being spent on research and development for TB treatments needs to be at least $2 billion per year, it added.

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