Nigeria accounts for 4.9% of global TB cases, ranking sixth among the countries with the highest disease burden, as the WHO warns that funding gaps and slow progress in diagnosis threaten efforts to end the epidemic by 2030.
By Bunmi Yekini
The number of people dying from tuberculosis (TB) worldwide fell by four per cent in 2025, but the disease still claimed an estimated 1.13 million lives, highlighting the distance the world must cover to meet its target of ending the epidemic by 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
An estimated 10.6 million people developed TB in 2025, representing a marginal decline of 0.7 per cent, or 75,000 cases, compared with 2024, according to the WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2026.
The report, which draws on data from 187 countries and territories representing more than 99 per cent of the world’s population and TB cases, said the reduction in deaths marked an important milestone in the global response, although progress remained slower than anticipated.
Deaths declined from 1.18 million in 2024 to 1.13 million in 2025, representing a 35 per cent reduction from the 1.74 million recorded in 2015.
This means the world has finally achieved the first mortality milestone of the WHO End TB Strategy, which originally targeted a 35 per cent reduction by 2020, five years behind schedule.
However, the target of reducing TB deaths by 90 per cent by 2030 remains distant.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the continued decline in cases and deaths was encouraging, particularly against the backdrop of funding cuts affecting health programmes in several countries.
He noted that many governments had increased domestic spending to protect existing gains but warned that more than one million people continued to die annually from a preventable and treatable disease.
He urged countries and development partners to expand access to TB services, protect essential funding and accelerate the development of new tools to end the epidemic.
Nigeria remains among the countries carrying a significant share of the global TB burden.
The report ranked Nigeria sixth among the eight countries accounting for about two-thirds of global TB cases in 2025, with an estimated 4.9 per cent of the worldwide total.
India accounted for about a quarter of global cases, followed by Indonesia with 10 per cent, the Philippines with 6.8 per cent, China with 6.5 per cent and Pakistan with 6.4 per cent.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bangladesh accounted for 3.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.
Collectively, the 30 countries classified by WHO as having a high TB burden accounted for 88 per cent of estimated global cases.
Despite the high burden, Nigeria was among several African countries that recorded substantial reductions in TB deaths between 2015 and 2025.
The report identified Nigeria alongside Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia as countries in the African Region that achieved reductions of at least 50 per cent in annual TB deaths over the period.
It also noted improvements in case detection in Nigeria, identifying the country among those that had made substantial progress in closing the gap between estimated TB cases and reported diagnoses in recent years.
Globally, however, only 8.4 million people were newly diagnosed and officially reported with TB in 2025, representing 79 per cent of the estimated 10.6 million people who developed the disease.
Although the number of diagnoses increased slightly from 8.3 million in 2024, the figures suggest that millions of people with TB were still not reached by diagnosis and treatment services.
Access to rapid testing also remains inadequate.
Only 59 per cent of people newly diagnosed with TB in 2025 were initially tested using a WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic test, up from 54 per cent in 2024.
This remains considerably below the global target of 100 per cent by 2027.
The report also raised concerns about drug-resistant TB, estimating that 370,000 people developed rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis in 2025.
Only 155,333 people, representing 42 per cent of those estimated to have developed the drug-resistant form, received treatment during the year.
However, access to shorter treatment regimens improved, with six-month treatment options accounting for 42 per cent of people treated for rifampicin-resistant TB in 2025, compared with 18 per cent in 2024.
Treatment success rates remained relatively high, at about 90 per cent for drug-susceptible TB and 70 per cent for rifampicin-resistant TB.
On prevention, 5.2 million people at high risk of developing TB received preventive treatment in 2025, including 3.7 million household contacts of people diagnosed with TB and 1.5 million people living with HIV.
Coverage remained low among household contacts, at 26 per cent, while 60 per cent of eligible people living with HIV received preventive treatment.
Financing remains another major obstacle to accelerating progress.
Funding for TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment in low- and middle-income countries increased from $6 billion in 2024 to $6.6 billion in 2025.
Domestic funding rose from $4.9 billion to $5.63 billion, while international donor funding declined by 14 per cent, from $1.1 billion to $940 million.
Nigeria was among several high-burden countries that increased domestic funding for TB in 2025, alongside Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Vietnam.
Nevertheless, the global funding available remains significantly below the annual $22 billion required by 2027 to provide universal access to quality TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.
The report also highlighted the financial difficulties faced by people affected by the disease, estimating that about half of TB-affected households incur costs exceeding 20 per cent of their annual income.
It said addressing poverty, undernutrition, HIV, diabetes, smoking and alcohol use disorders was essential to reducing the number of people developing TB.
On research and innovation, WHO reported that 12 TB vaccines were in active clinical development as of August 2026, with three having reached Phase 3 clinical trials.
The report concluded that although the global response had demonstrated resilience, achieving the 2030 targets would require stronger political commitment, sustained domestic and international funding, improved access to diagnostic and treatment services, and accelerated development of new vaccines and other tools.
WHO also stressed the importance of strengthening universal health coverage and social protection to ensure that people affected by TB can access care without suffering financial hardship.
Source: WHO, Global Tuberculosis Report 2026, published November 2026. All 2025 figures are estimates unless otherwise indicated.