GENEVA, 21 March 2025–Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV are intricately linked, and they present profound challenges for global health. In 2023, 1.25 million people lost their lives to TB, including 161 000 people living with HIV. As the leading life threating comorbidity of HIV infection, TB accounted for nearly one third of all deaths among people living with HIV in 2023. Despite the progress made in the TB and HIV responses, antiretroviral treatment coverage for people with HIV/TB co-infection was only at 58% in 2023. Between 2005 and the end of 2023, 19 million people living with HIV were initiated on tuberculosis preventive treatment. 

These numbers are not just statistics – they represent real lives, especially those of the most marginalized people who face the compounding impacts of poverty, discrimination and social inequality. 

UNAIDS is advancing the targets set at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, where global leaders committed to addressing these issues. UNAIDS is working to incorporate these targets into the next Global AIDS Strategy, advocating for the global community to commit to ensuring that 90% of people living with HIV access HIV and TB testing and treatment services as needed, and that 95% of people living with HIV receive preventive TB therapy.

There are significant opportunities to further integrate TB and HIV services, particularly in the initiation and management of antiretroviral therapy, as well as TB preventive and curative treatment. This can be achieved at all levels of health systems, especially by leveraging community support systems to close existing gaps and ensure integrated, people-centered care.   

However, the situation has recently worsened due to funding cuts from major donors, which have disrupted TB /HIV services, including health worker layoffs, drug shortages and broken supply chains. If not addressed urgently, they will likely lead to a resurgence in TB cases. 

On World Tuberculosis Day (24 March) and in this critical moment, UNAIDS urges the donor community to maintain their support for the global TB and HIV response. This is not just an act of international solidarity, but also an investment in the health and well-being of people everywhere, including in donor countries. UNAIDS also calls on national leaders to re-double their commitment to increase domestic investment in health and ensure that health services are integrated, people-centered, rights-based, and sustainable. 

Ending HIV and TB is not merely a health goal - it is a fight for justice, dignity, and a healthier and fairer world for all. When we unite, invest, and act with purpose, we save lives.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.