By Christy Santhosh

(Reuters) -Global tuberculosis illness rates fell about 2% from 2023 to 2024, according to a World Health Organization report, after rising for three consecutive years due to COVID-related disruptions to diagnosis and treatment.

Most indicators of the disease burden were moving in the right direction after setbacks during the pandemic, but progress still fell short of 2030 targets, the agency said.

WHO adopted the “End TB Strategy” in 2014 and 2015 that included targets for 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2035 to sharply cut tuberculosis incidence, deaths and patient costs.

In 2024, 1.23 million people died from TB, a fall of 29% from 2015. The health agency said this was far from its goals of a 75% reduction by 2025 and a 90% lowering by 2030.

“(A) major obstacle is global f

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