Geneva, 12 Nov 2025 – The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 released today shows that 1.2 million children and young adolescents (aged less than 15 years) fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2024. Children continue to be disproportionately affected by TB, with an estimated 174,300 deaths amongst children in 2024, accounting for 14.2% of all TB deaths. A staggering 43% of the children with TB missed diagnosis and could not access treatment, showing no improvement from the previous year.
MSF has been providing tuberculosis (TB) care for 30 years, working alongside national health authorities to treat people in a wide variety of settings, including conflict zones, impoverished urban communities, prisons, refugee camps, and rural areas. In 2024, MSF treated 25,000 people with TB, including 1500 patients with drug-resistant TB, in over 35 countries, with most patients being in Africa (68 per cent) and Asia (30 per cent).
In 2023, MSF launched the Test Avoid Cure TB in Children (TACTiC) project with an aim to implement the latest WHO recommendations for the management of TB in children, as well as generating evidence on the accuracy, feasibility, and acceptability of the WHO treatment decision algorithms and advocating for their implementation at global and national levels. The TACTiC project covers 12 countries with a high burden of TB where MSF provides TB care for children: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda.
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Related:
- endTB
- Paediatric TB
- Tuberculosis
