Member states of the World Health Organisation South-East Asia Region committed to integrated actions targeting tuberculosis gaps during the 79th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, focusing on early detection, financial protections, and vaccine preparedness. According to WHO data, the region accounted for roughly 34 percent of new global tuberculosis cases in 2024, translating to an estimated 3.68 million cases and 433,000 deaths.
Regional TB Burden and Drug Resistance Crisis
The regional caseload includes about 150,000 individuals who developed multidrug– and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis in 2024, representing more than 38 percent of the global burden for drug-resistant strains, according to WHO figures. Financial pressures compound these health outcomes. Nearly 44 percent of tuberculosis-affected households face catastrophic costs, a figure that spikes to more than 80 percent for households dealing with drug-resistant forms of the disease, according to regional reports. Funding remains well below estimated requirements; in 2024, the regional response operated with approximately USD 900 million against an estimated need of approximately USD 3 billion.
Strategic Commitments and Vaccine Timeline
Delegates agreed to scale up early detection via routine services, systematic screening, and active case finding in high-risk groups, alongside wider deployment of rapid molecular diagnostics and digital health tools. Prevention initiatives will target undernutrition, diabetes, and tobacco use, while expanding preventive treatment to household contacts. Regional modeling indicates that combining improved treatment, public-private engagement, rapid diagnostics, and active case finding with new vaccines could drastically alter disease trajectories. According to regional projections, introducing a tuberculosis vaccine starting in 2028 alongside these interventions could avert roughly 1.45 million new cases and 300,000 deaths by 2030.
Did you know? While treatment coverage in the WHO South-East Asia Region now exceeds 85 percent and treatment success rates rank among the highest globally, incidence has only dropped by 16 percent and deaths by 23 percent since 2015—falling short of the End TB Strategy targets for 2030, according to WHO findings.
Primary Healthcare Integration and Regional Cooperation
Member states emphasized embedding tuberculosis services within primary healthcare and universal health coverage frameworks. Officials called for enhanced South-South cooperation, cross-border patient referrals, and continuous care pathways for mobile and migrant populations. “Tuberculosis is curable and preventable, yet it continues to take hundreds of thousands of lives in our Region every year and pushes families into poverty,” said Dr Nilesh Buddha, Officer-in-Charge, WHO South-East Asia Region. Buddha stressed that ensuring these tools reach everyone equitably through quality primary care is essential to changing the current trajectory.
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