In Portugal, according to the WHO, the incidence rate of tuberculosis fell by 31% between 2015 and 2021, reaching 16 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last year. The number of deaths decreased by 2.1% over the same period.

Men come first in the number of cases, 1,100 in 2021.

The WHO 2022 report on tuberculosis analyses the response of 215 countries or territories to the infectious disease in 2021. The UN agency has made data on specific countries and regions available through a mobile app and not in the global report.

Last year, Portugal diagnosed or reported 1,500 new cases. The treatment coverage rate reached 89%, with the success rate of therapy for new cases reaching 73% but falling to 53% in HIV-positive patients (carriers of the AIDS virus).

Infection with HIV/AIDS is one of the risk factors for tuberculosis and contributed to 150 new cases in Portugal in 2021, according to the WHO.

The World Health Organization report estimates that last year 10.6 million people became ill with tuberculosis worldwide and 1.6 million died from the infection.