The China Mail - UK drawing up new action plan to tackle rising TB

In 2023, England recorded its largest annual increase (11 percent) in cases since enhanced surveillance began in 2000.

Provisional figures for 2024 indicate a further 13-percent annual rise to 5,480 cases, reflecting a similar global trend.

The government is in the preliminary stages of preparing its new National Action Plan (2026–2031), which aims to improve the prevention, detection and control of TB in England.

It called for academic, health and social care professionals, public health experts, data scientists and those with lived experience of tuberculosis to share their insights.

"TB is curable and preventable, but the disease remains a serious public health issue in England," said Esther Robinson, head of the TB unit at the Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

While England is still considered a low-incidence country for TB, the rise in cases over recent years means that "we are now just below" the World Health Organization-defined low-incidence threshold of 10 cases per 100,000 population, Robinson said.

The government has said the highest incidence of the disease in the UK, 81.5 percent, is among people born outside the country.

Research in the UK has shown a clear link between TB and deprivation, including among the homeless, those addicted to drugs and alcohol, and people who have had contact with the criminal justice system.

"This call for evidence will help us develop an action plan that prioritises the most effective interventions to reverse this trend, focusing particularly on the needs of those most affected," Robinson added.

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