This follow-up to the 2019 report by the Lancet Commission outlines roadblocks that have undermined progress towards ending TB over the past five years and provides recommendations, lessons that can be learned from the global response to COVID-19, and how a new set of diagnostics, therapeutic, and preventive tools - including new vaccines - already available or in the pipeline promises the possibility of transformative progress.
The 2019 Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis laid out an optimistic vision for how to build a tuberculosis-free world through smart investments based on sound science and shared responsibility. Since then, several major strides have been made towards ending tuberculosis, including substantive improvements in treatment outcomes for people with drug-resistant disease. Although COVID-19 has undermined global progress, many African countries have sustained declines in tuberculosis mortality rates. With excellent short-course preventive regimens and several late-stage vaccine candidates, tuberculosis prevention is also on the cusp of a revolution. Still, much more can be done to fully implement the Commission's recommendations and realise the ambitious targets set out at the UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on tuberculosis in 2018. In the 5 years since the HLM, more than 7 million people have died of tuberculosis; their deaths are a profound tragedy and a reminder of the urgency of accelerating momentum.
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