--- title: WHO Raises Tuberculosis Estimates by Half a Million Cases description: The disease killed 1.5 million people last year canonical: https://time.com/3530962/tuberculosis-cases/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-22T12:43:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:56:18.842Z article:section: Health og:title: WHO Raises Tuberculosis Estimates by Half a Million Cases og:description: The disease killed 1.5 million people last year og:url: https://time.com/3530962/tuberculosis-cases/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83200657808aa4c9/698762363c1639a4f944f355/480309709.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: INDIA-HEALTH-TB-TREATMENT-MSF FRANCE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WHO Raises Tuberculosis Estimates by Half a Million Cases twitter:description: The disease killed 1.5 million people last year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83200657808aa4c9/698762363c1639a4f944f355/480309709.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There Are Half a Million More Tuberculosis Cases Than Once Believed > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Oct 22, 2014 12:43 PM UTC  An Indian tuberculosis patient rests at the Rajan Babu Tuberculosis Hospital in New Delhi on March 24, 2014. An Indian tuberculosis patient rests at the Rajan Babu Tuberculosis Hospital in New Delhi on March 24, 2014. AFP—AFP/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Oct 22, 2014 12:43 PM UTC Nearly half a million more people have tuberculosis than was previously estimated, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, adding to the 9 million people who developed the disease in 2013. The epidemic killed 1.5 million people in 2013, including 360,000 people who were HIV positive, according to the WHO. The disease has been declining, however, by a rate of 1.5% per year, while its mortality rates have dropped 45% since 1990. “Following a concerted effort by countries, by WHO and by multiple partners, investment in national surveys and routine surveillance efforts has substantially increased,” said Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Program. “This is providing us with much more and better data, bringing us closer and closer to understanding the true burden of tuberculosis.” The WHO said $8 billion is needed each year to combat the epidemic, but there’s currently a $2 billion annual shortfall. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3530962/tuberculosis-cases/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3530962/tuberculosis-cases/"},"headline":"There Are Half a Million More Tuberculosis Cases Than Once Believed","datePublished":"2014-10-22T12:43:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:56:18.842Z","description":"The disease killed 1.5 million people last year","url":"https://time.com/3530962/tuberculosis-cases/","keywords":["Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83200657808aa4c9/698762363c1639a4f944f355/480309709.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83200657808aa4c9/698762363c1639a4f944f355/480309709.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"INDIA-HEALTH-TB-TREATMENT-MSF FRANCE","caption":"INDIA-HEALTH-TB-TREATMENT-MSF FRANCE","creditText":"AFP—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3530962/tuberculosis-cases/","name":"There Are Half a Million More Tuberculosis Cases Than Once Believed"}}]}] ```