Two days ahead of the G20 summit in Germany, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Stop TB Partnership released the third edition of ‘Out of Step,’ a report highlighting the need for governments to increase efforts to combat tuberculosis (TB). The report reviews TB policies and practices in 29 countries – which account for 82% of the global TB burden – and shows that countries can do much more to prevent, diagnose and treat people affected by TB. Although TB is preventable and treatable, it remains the world deadliest infectious disease. In 2015 alone, 1.8 million people died from it. In 2015, the majority (54%) of the 10.4 million people with TB lived in the countries represented at the G20 summit. Despite its deadly toll, most countries lag behind in implementing the new tools that are available to tackle TB. Read on to know more.
