March 24 is World TB Day, when we can take time to reflect on the impact tuberculosis has had and where we are in our fight against this infectious disease.
In Canada, many people believe that TB no longer exists. However, worldwide it’s the No. 1 infectious disease cause of death, killing more than 1.5 million people last year. There were more TB deaths in 2018 than from HIV and malaria combined. This happened despite the fact that we have had medications to treat and prevent TB for more than 50 years. Moreover, with interrupted access to treatment, extremely drug resistant and virtually untreatable strains of TB have started to develop and spread.
Indigenous peoples face the highest burden of TB in Canada. TB was imported to Canada by European settlers and spread like wildfire in large part due to oppressive policies like residential schools. Generations later, the burden of TB remains disproportionately higher for Indigenous peoples. In 2018, the rates of TB among Inuit were more than 300 times higher than among non-Indigenous Canadian-born people.
This year, we will mark 50 years since Canada led other donor countries in pledging to contribute 0.7 per cent of gross national income to official development aid, which includes TB control efforts. But our contributions have actually fallen in recent years, from 0.32 per cent of gross national income in 2012 to just 0.26 per cent in 2018. Canada now contributes the least aid of all G7 countries.