Tuberculosis remains the world’s leading infectious killer, claiming an estimated 1.23 million lives last year, the World Health Organisation has said, warning that recent gains made against TB were fragile.

Deaths from tuberculosis were down three per cent from 2023, while cases dropped by nearly two per cent, the WHO said in its annual overview.

An estimated 10.7 million people worldwide fell ill with TB in 2024: 5.8 million men, 3.7 million women and 1.2 million children.

A preventable and curable disease, tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that most often affect the lungs. It spreads through the air when people with TB cough, sneeze or spit.

Now, TB cases and deaths are both declining “for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic”, which disrupted services, said Tereza Kasaeva, head of the WHO department for HIV, TB, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections.

Funding for the fight against TB has stagnated since 2020.

Last year, $5.9 billion was available for prevention, diagnosis and treatment, way off the target of $22 billion annually by 2027.

Last year, eight countries accounted for two-thirds of global TB cases.