Even though last year's death rate from tuberculosis fell to nearly half of what it was in 1990, 1.5 million people still died from TB last year, according to figures from the World Health Organization.
That means TB killed more people worldwide than HIV/AIDS (1.2 million) in 2014.
However, according to WHO's Global tuberculosis report 2015, released Wednesday, effective diagnosis and treatment of TB saved 43 million lives between 2000 and 2015. Additionally, TB incidence has fallen 1.5 percent per year since 2000 worldwide, for a total reduction of 18 percent.
"The report shows that TB control has had a tremendous impact in terms of lives saved and patients cured," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, MD. "These advances are heartening, but if the world is to end this epidemic, it needs to scale up services and, critically, invest in research."
There are significant detection gaps, according to the WHO report: More than one third of TB cases went undiagnosed or were not reported to the national authorities in 2014. Treatment gaps also still exist.
"A primary reason for detection and treatment gaps is a major shortfall in funding," said Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, MD, the WHO assistant director-general for HIV, TB, malaria and neglected tropical diseases.
According to the WHO, in 2014, funding fell $1.4 billion short of the $8 billion needed to fully implement interventions.