Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2019-2020

In 2020, the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System received 1,618 tuberculosis (TB) notifications, representing a notification rate of 6.3 per 100,0000 population. In 2019, there were 1,505 TB notifications, with a rate of 5.9 per 100,000 population. Australia has achieved and maintained good TB control since the mid-1980s, sustaining a low annual TB incidence rate of approximately five to six cases per 100,000 population. The number of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases notified in Australia is lower than global rates, with approximately 2% of TB notifications per year classified as MDR-TB. In Australia, overseas-born people represent the majority of TB cases, accounting for 92% and 90% of TB notifications in 2020 and 2019, respectively. In 2020 and 2019, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people recorded TB rates approximately four times higher than the Australian-born non-Indigenous population. Whilst Australia has achieved and maintained excellent control of TB, sustained effort is required to reduce local rates further, especially among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, and to contribute to the World Health Organization's goal to end the global TB epidemic by 2035.