Tuberculosis - a disease that has been around for thousands of years - could be wiped out by 2045 if investment in the disease is increased to $10billion a year.

A panel of experts has set out a vision for ending TB within the next 25 years if the world invests in a range of measures including research and development, targeted prevention and high quality diagnostics.

The Lancet Commission on TB, published ahead of World TB Day on March 24, says that the savings generated from averting a TB death are estimated to be three times the cost and could be much greater in many countries where the disease is most prevalent.

TB is the world’s leading infectious killer, responsible for 1.6 million deaths worldwide in 2017, with drug-resistant forms of the disease threatening control efforts in many parts of the world. Progress on fighting the disease has stalled in recent years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) first declared TB a public health crisis in 1993, and last year the first-ever UN High-Level Meeting on TB made ending the disease a global priority.