TUBERCULOSIS IS STILL A MAJOR KILLER DISEASE IN THE WORLD
Needless to say Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of respiratory diseases in human health, and tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious disease killers known to man to date. WHO estimates that each day, nearly 4000 people lose their lives to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. This equates to 1.5 million deaths and 10 million people falling ill to TB each year. Countries in the Africa region (including Ghana) accounted for over half a million TB deaths and 25% of those who developed TB in 2019. Even though in recent years, a lot of progress has been made against TB, yet 3 million people with TB disease are still undiagnosed in different parts of the world. Furthermore, 1 in 3 people with TB do not access quality care for the following reasons: gaps in research and development; insufficient or underfunded health services; long and difficult treatments regimens; and stigma, among others. In addition, a quarter of the world’s po