Statement by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, at the joint ECDC–WHO/Europe press briefing to mark World TB Day
24 March 2023
Friends, colleagues, partners, greetings from the WHO European Region – covering 53 countries across Europe and central Asia – a region where ending tuberculosis remains unfinished business, yet a region that has the know-how to end TB.
141 years ago, on 24 March 1882, Robert Koch identified Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the causal agent of a disease at the time considered incurable.
Looking back from where we stand today, 24 March 2023, World TB Day, we have made huge strides in tackling this preventable and, yes, curable disease – including the social and economic factors linked to TB.
We should be well-poised to end TB by 2035, given that we have long had the ability to diagnose and treat it, and to prevent its spread. But the current reality is different.
It’s been 5 years since the first UN High-Level Meeting on TB. From it appeared ambitious targets that were supposed to have been achieved last year. Progress, however, has been dismal – for many reasons.
Numerous crises arriving faster than ever before – natural disasters, conflicts, COVID-19 – all have contributed to severely impacting health systems, jeopardizing gains made, including combating multidrug-resistant TB and TB–HIV coinfection.
Just 3 years ago, prior to the pandemic, the European Region was on a good path – with the fastest decline in TB incidence and mortality in the world.
But the Global Tuberculosis Report for 2022 provides a grim reality check. TB mortality in the European Region increased in 2021 compared to 2020, and the falling incidence curve has stalled for the first time in 20 years.
Colleagues, these are remarkable times for those of us working on TB. We must take full advantage of new technologies such as rapid molecular diagnoses; better and shorter regimens for prevention, treatment and care; and innovative digital health solutions.
For the first time in the history of tuberculosis, we have treatment regimens that are just 6 months long – for both so-called “regular” TB and drug-resistant TB. Just imagine – we can confirm a diagnosis of TB and drug resistance within hours and start treatment at once. A few years ago, we probably wouldn’t have thought this possible.
So, yes, we have the scientific and medical tools to recoup lost ground.
But we urgently need stronger, consistent, invested partnerships between Member States, donor agencies and affected communities if we are to reach everyone living with TB with the treatment and care they need.
Yet, we all too often see fragmented approaches where various stakeholders continue to work in silos – such as those that still exist between TB and HIV – rather than collaborating and integrating efforts and resources. This, frankly, is a recipe for failure.
We need strong leadership, boosted investment into people-centred care, even more research, and more support for introducing and scaling up innovations for TB. We also need to improve access, engage all service delivery platforms, invest in community-based services and strengthen the connection with primary health care.
Now is truly the right time to chart a renewed trajectory towards ending TB in the European Region, and globally, for once and for all.
This September will bring the second UN High-Level Meeting on TB, co-facilitated by Poland and Uzbekistan, both WHO/Europe Member States – a real honour for our Region.
At the meeting, global leaders will commit to new targets and set new milestones to end TB. This should not be an empty exercise. Rather, these new commitments must lead to action and accountability at all levels.
These commitments will be a promise we make to help people who are most in need – for TB is largely a disease of poverty and neglect, shrouded in stigma and discrimination, affecting some of the most vulnerable of our fellow human beings.
Friends, you may have sensed that ending tuberculosis is close to my heart. Throughout my professional career – by collaborating with dedicated health professionals and supporting people living with this disease in some of the most challenged contexts on this planet – ending TB for good has been a passion of mine, an ever-present goal.
Yes, I passionately believe we can end TB. And we can end it together.
Thank you.