Malawi: World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to end Tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy in Malawi by 2030. The world came together on Monday, to commemorate the World Tuberculosis Day. Malawi also added the commemoration of Leprosy Day to the programmes.
During the joint commemoration of the two days in one World Health Organization has promised to support all the programmes conceptualised by Malawi to eradicate the medical health emergencies.
The celebration of World TB and Leprosy Day was hosted at Mgona Community Ground in Lilongwe. At the event WHO Country Representative for Malawi, Dr Neema Kimambo, reflected on the seriousness of the diseases.
According to the WHO representative, TB is the leading cause of death among people with HIV. The disease is also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance amongthe people of the country.
She said in 2023, an estimated 10.8 million people were infected by TB all over the world. This translates to 134 incident cases in a population of 100,000.
Dr Kimambo said out of this number, 6.1% cases were seen among people living with HIV. Furthermore, in the year 2023, most TB cases were found in South-East Asia (45%).
In Africa, the number was at 24%. Western Pacific accounted for 17% of the cases among people with TB, Eastern Mediterranean reported 8.6%, America contributed 3.2% cases, and Europe reported, 2.1%. She said of the 10.8 million people with TB in 2023, 8.2 million received access to diagnosis and treatment. In contrast, the number of people with access to these facilties totalled to approximately 7.5 million in the year 2022.
“This highlights a significant global gap between the estimated number of people (10.8 million) who were infected and the number of people who have received the right diagnosis and treatment. Approximately 50% of TB patients’ households face catastrophic costs during diagnosis and treatment globally.
“Of the total 10.8 million patients, 2.5 million patients were from the African region. 461 patients of Tuberculosis were also found to be infected with HIV. However, in terms of incidence rate, countries with the highest annual rates were mostly in the African region,” said Kimambo.
She said tuberculosis infections currently stand at approximately 119 per 100,000 people. The number has come down from 190/100,000 in the country. The WHO Country Representative for Malawi said that the country has made significant progress in ending TB and eliminating leprosy as well as HIV.
The WHO representative noted that the country must make more efforts to meet the targets by the year 2030. Kimambo also offered her opinions on leprosy and said there is a need for an immediate action on diagnosis and treatment. The health officers have to increase surveillance. The cases of leprosy in Malawi are below one percent.
The nation commemorated 2025 World TB Day under the theme ‘Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver’. Since the day was jointly celebrated with Leprosy Day, the theme for the second commemoration was: ‘Unite, Act, Eliminate Leprosy’