Addis Ababa — The World Health Organization (WHO) in the African region has brought together National Tuberculosis programme managers from 20 priority African countries, alongside key international partners including Unitaid, the Global Fund, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), to assess progress and define priorities for accelerating progress towards eliminating the disease across the region.
“This meeting comes at a critical moment in the fight against tuberculosis in Africa. We must accelerate the implementation of proven innovations and ensure that every person affected by TB in our region has access to rapid diagnosis and effective, quality treatment,” said Dr Francis Kasolo, WHO Country Representative for Ethiopia.
Tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in Africa. This public health challenge is compounded by the emergence of drug-resistant strains and co-infections, particularly with HIV. In 2024, the African Region recorded approximately 2.62 million new cases and 423 000 deaths. Yet many people with TB have never been diagnosed due to the large number of cases missed by the health systems each year. While the region has made advancements in reducing TB deaths by up to 46% between 2015 and 2024, this progress remains insufficient to meet global targets for ending the epidemic.
Meeting from 23 to 25 June 2026, the participants will address critical gaps, with a focus on innovations in rapid testing, improved treatments for drug-resistant TB, and strengthening supply chains to ensure that every patient has access to the care they need.
This workshop comes against the background of the WHO’s latest guidance on rapid diagnostic testing, with a particular focus on newly WHO-validated point-of-care tools released this year. These new diagnostic tools can provide highly accurate results in under one hour and at a lower cost than previous technologies. The workshop will support countries in rapidly benefiting from these scientific advances, with particular attention to reducing the time between global validation and country-level adoption, procurement, deployment, and use.
This is especially urgent because diagnostic coverage remains insufficient: only 54% of TB patients are currently diagnosed using a WHO-recommended test, leaving many cases undetected. Unlike earlier WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics, which were largely confined to district hospitals or higher-level facilities, the new point-of-care tools can be used closer to communities, including by trained community health workers.
This creates a major opportunity to bring accurate TB diagnosis within reach of remote and underserved populations. If implemented effectively, these tools could become one of the most important drivers for turning around the TB response and achieving universal access to diagnosis.
“Ending the tuberculosis epidemic will require high-level leadership and commitment from governments at different levels. Beyond the health sector, the TB response also requires a strong multisectoral approach that engages different sectors and stakeholders to achieve acceleration,” said Dr Dereje Duguma, State Minister, Health Programmes and Services Wing, Ministry of Health, Ethiopia.
Participants will share best practices from successful programmes and discuss how to effectively mobilize the critical resources needed to accelerate regional and national efforts toward TB elimination.
“Closing Africa’s TB gap means turning known solutions into on-the-ground impact. Meetings like this are how we make that happen and the Global Fund remains firmly committed to working with countries to accelerate progress towards ending TB in this region,” said Dr Melanie Kitongo, Global Fund.
This workshop is intended to translate directly into better diagnosis and better lives for the millions of Africans exposed to TB and will produce practical recommendations for participating countries, helping to strengthen TB control programmes across the region. The conclusions will be shared with all Member States and partners to guide health policies and programme planning for the years ahead.
About WHO AFRO
The WHO Regional Office for Africa serves 47 Member States in sub-Saharan Africa. It supports the development and implementation of health programmes aimed at improving health security and the health of populations. The fight against tuberculosis is a major priority for the region.
For more information on WHO’s work against tuberculosis in the African Region, visit www.afro.who.int
