The number of cases has more than quadrupled since 1990 and is killing an average of 500,000 people each year in Africa.
"Despite commendable efforts by countries and partners to control tuberculosis, impact on incidence has not been significant and the epidemic has now reached unprecedented proportions," says WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo.
"Urgent and extraordinary actions must be taken, or else the situation will only get worse and the TB targets in the Abuja Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved."
Globally, tuberculosis is second only to HIV and AIDS as a cause of illness and death of adults, accounting for nearly nine million cases of active disease and two million deaths every year.
