According to the department led by Mónica García, these data «reflect sustained efforts in improving the prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment» of tuberculosis, which in Spain, in 2023, has recorded 43,944 indigenous cases, with a notification rate of 8.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The Ministry has stated in a press release that advances in diagnosis and treatment have allowed 80% of tuberculosis patients registered in 2022 to successfully complete their treatment, a figure that «although still improvable, reflects continuous progress in disease management,» says Health.
A NEW SPANISH VACCINE AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS
The Ministry of Health has reiterated its commitment «to continue advancing in the fight against this disease,» with greater prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment aimed at further reducing its incidence and moving towards its elimination.
In this sense, it has highlighted the progress of the tuberculosis vaccine, MTBVAC, developed by a research team from the University of Zaragoza, led by Dr. Carlos Martín Montañés. This vaccine, emphasizes Health, has «passed several phases of clinical trials» and is currently in phase 3, where «its effectiveness is being evaluated in a large number of participants.»
«The development of a more effective vaccine like MTBVAC represents a crucial advance in the fight against this disease. Its success could have a significant impact on the prevention and control of tuberculosis on a global scale,» the Ministry stated.
THE MOST DEADLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE IN THE WORLD
The Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Monday that «drastic and abrupt» cuts in funding in some countries, such as the United States, threaten to reverse the achievements made against tuberculosis in recent decades.
«The enormous achievements the world has made against tuberculosis in the last 20 years are now in jeopardy, as funding cuts begin to disrupt access to prevention, detection, and treatment services for people with tuberculosis,» Tedros expressed.
He then recalled that tuberculosis remains the most deadly infectious disease in the world, causing over a million deaths annually, and its incidence has increased by 10% in children in Europe and Central Asia, according to data from WHO Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC); the number of cases detected has also increased among the adult population.