The World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia has urged countries to intensify efforts to end tuberculosis (TB), warning that the region remains off track to meet the 2025 End TB targets despite progress made.
According to WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, 10.7 million people developed TB and 1.23 million died from the disease in 2024. The South-East Asia Region, home to less than a quarter of the world’s population, accounts for more than one in every three new TB cases globally each year. Drug-resistant TB continues to pose a serious threat, with an estimated 150,000 new cases recorded in 2024.
Since 2015, the region has reduced TB incidence by 16%, slightly faster than the global average of 12%. However, deaths are not declining rapidly enough, and the region’s TB incidence rate of 201 per 100,000 people remains well above the global average of 131.
“Tuberculosis continues to threaten health security and development across the South-East Asia Region, hitting the poorest the hardest,” said Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge, WHO South-East Asia. “We know what works – early detection, rapid treatment, prevention, and strong primary health care. What’s needed now is speed, scale, and sustained political and financial commitment”.
The agency revealed the region has recorded notable gains: treatment coverage now exceeds 85%, with treatment success rates among the highest in the world. Preventive therapy for people living with HIV and household contacts has also expanded sharply, outpacing global averages.
WHO stressed the urgent need to protect and expand essential TB services, integrate them into primary health care, and strengthen social protection through nutrition programs, cash transfers, and transport support.
Investing in communities, innovation, and digital tools, the organization said, will be critical to closing remaining gaps and achieving the End TB goals.
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