TB is the largest infectious disease killer in the world.
One-quarter of the world’s population is infected with TB. In 2016, 10.4 million people fell ill with TB and 1.7 million died. Over 95% of TB deaths occurs in low- and middle-income countries. In 2016, an estimated 1 million children became ill with TB and 250,000 died. TB is the leading killer of HIV-positive people. In 2016, 40% of HIV deaths were due to TB.
Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a public health crisis and a health security threat. WHO estimates that there were 600,000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin — the most effective first-line drug, of which 490,000 had MDR-TB.