The World Health Organization global report on tuberculosis recognises the importance of integrating community-based activities, including palliative and end of life care, for patients with advanced disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2012 provides the latest information and analysis about the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic and progress in TB care and control at global, regional and country levels.

The report  states that  “palliative and end of life care delivered through home-based or institutional services is important for patients with advanced disease that is not responding to treatment. Nine of the European high MDR-TB burden countries plus South Africa reported providing such care within the scope of the TB control programme.” 

The report finds that progress towards global targets for reductions in TB cases and deaths continues. The Millennium Development Goal  target to halt and reverse the TB epidemic by 2015 has already been achieved. New cases of TB have been falling for several years and fell at a rate of 2.2% between 2010 and 2011. However, the global burden of TB remains enormous. In 2011,  there were an estimated 8.7 million new cases of TB (13% co-infected with HIV) and 1.4 million people died from TB.

Geographically, the burden of TB is highest in Asia and Africa. India and China together account for almost 40% of the world’s TB cases.