World TB Day, which is observed on 24 March every year, is to raise public awareness regarding the epidemic of TB (tuberculosis) and efforts of eliminating the epidemic. he date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
The World TB Day is one of the 8 official campaigns for global public health marked by WHO (World Health Organization).
The day celebrates the day in the year 1882, the time when Dr Robert Koch shocked the scientific community by making an announcement to a small scientist group that he had discovered tuberculosis cause, the TB bacillus. The discovery of Koch paved the way toward diagnosing as well as curing tuberculosis.
TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer. Each day, nearly 4500 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 54 million lives since the year 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 42%.
The theme of World TB Day 2019 - ‘It’s time’ – puts the accent on the urgency to act on the commitments made by global leaders to:
- scale up access to prevention and treatment;
- build accountability;
- ensure sufficient and sustainable financing including for research;
- promote an end to stigma and discrimination, and
- promote an equitable, rights-based and people-centered TB response.
Sources: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2019/03/24/default-calendar/world-tb-day-2019
https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-tb-day-2019/
