Global Tuberculosis Report 2026: Domestic Sources Fund 86% of TB Spending

The news

Domestic sources accounted for 86% of tuberculosis spending in 2025, even as international donor funding fell by 14%, the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2026 said. The report, released on 13 November 2026, noted that India alone accounted for a quarter of all TB cases globally, and that $22 billion is needed annually by 2027 to meet the targets set at the 2023 United Nations high-level TB meeting.

In absolute terms, low- and middle-income countries provided $5.63 billion from domestic sources in 2025, of which Brazil, China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa contributed $3.7 billion, or 65%. International donor funding fell from $1.1 billion in 2024 to $0.94 billion in 2025, after having remained relatively stable at about $1.1–1.3 billion per year between 2015 and 2024. Financing for TB research and innovation, at $1.2 billion in 2023, continued to fall far short of the global target of $5 billion per year, the report said.

The WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for 3.6 million people who developed TB in 2025 — 34% of the global total — and 4,00,000 TB-related deaths, or 35% of the global total. The region had $1.03 billion available for TB prevention and care in 2025, with 91% from domestic sources, yet this represented only around 16% of global TB funding. Nilesh Buddha, officer-in-charge of the WHO South-East Asia Region, said ending TB by 2030 would depend on countries turning political commitments into measurable action with greater urgency and scale.

What is the WHO End TB Strategy?

The WHO End TB Strategy was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2014 as a global framework to end the tuberculosis epidemic. It sets 2035 targets of a 95% reduction in TB deaths and a 90% reduction in the TB incidence rate compared with 2015 levels. The strategy also aims for zero catastrophic costs for TB-affected households by 2020, a milestone that has not been met. It is built on three pillars: integrated patient-centred care and prevention, bold policies and supportive systems, and intensified research and innovation.

What are the risk factors and household costs?

In 2025, globally there were an estimated 0.96 million new TB cases attributable to undernutrition, 0.92 million to diabetes, 0.73 million to alcohol use disorders, 0.69 million to smoking, and 0.55 million to HIV infection. The report also said that about 50% of people treated for TB and their households face total costs — direct medical and non-medical expenditures and indirect costs such as income losses — that are catastrophic, meaning they exceed 20% of total household income. This is far from the WHO End TB Strategy target of zero.

What has the WHO called for?

The WHO called on countries in the South-East Asia Region to accelerate action to end TB. Dr. Buddha said ending TB is not simply a health sector responsibility and requires leadership across government, sustained investment, strong health systems and communities at the centre of the response. He added that the tools to prevent, diagnose and treat TB exist, and what is needed is the commitment to ensure they reach everyone who needs them without delay or financial hardship.