Global Tuberculosis Control 2010 - Florida Department of Health

his section summarizes the main conclusions that can
be drawn from the findings included in this report.
It also draws together the main recommendations that
appear in the report, in the form of a Box ().
The global burden of TB is falling slowly. Incidence
rates have been declining since 2004 at the global level,
and if this trend is sustained, MDG Target 6.c will
be achieved worldwide. Five of WHO’s six regions are
also on track to achieve this target (the exception is
the South-East Asia Region, where the incidence rate
is stable). Mortality rates at global level fell by around
35% between 1990 and 2009, and the target of a 50%
reduction by 2015 could be achieved if the current rate
of decline is sustained. At the regional level, the mortality
target could be achieved in five of WHO’s six regions;
the exception is the African Region (although rates of
mortality are falling in this region). Prevalence is falling
globally and in all six WHO regions. However, the
target of halving 1990 prevalence rates by 2015 may
not be reached at global level. Three regions are on track
to achieve this target: the Region of the Americas, the
Eastern Mediterranean Region and the Western Pacific
Region.
Reductions in the disease burden achieved to date follow
15 years of intensive efforts at country level to implement
the DOTS strategy (1995–2005) and its successor,
the Stop TB Strategy (launched in 2006). Between 1995
and 2009, a cumulative total of 41 million TB patients
were successfully treated in DOTS programmes, and up
to 6 million lives were saved. The treatment success rate
achieved in DOTS cohorts worldwide has now exceeded
the global target of 85% for two successive years.
Although increasing numbers of TB cases have access
to high-quality treatment for TB as well as access to