“Progress has been made in reducing TB related deaths in the Africa region. The continent saw the biggest drop in TB related deaths since 2015 of all six regions – 42%. The European region came next with TB deaths down by 38% in the same period.

When it comes to TB infections the WHO African and European regions have made the most progress: a reduction of 24% in Africa and 27% in Europe.

One of the main reasons for the success in Africa has been progress in treating HIV patients. This is because TB is one of the most common opportunistic infections among patients with HIV. (Opportunistic infections occur more often or are more severe in people with weakened immune systems.)

Before antiretrovirals transformed treatment for HIV patients, the African continent had the highest TB-HIV co-infection rates in the world. High mortality was experienced among co-infected patients.

At one stage HIV prevalence among TB patients was estimated to be as high as 90% in some areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Treating co-infected patients with antiretrovirals has contributed significantly to the drop in TB-related cases and deaths on the continent.”

From Gavi.