World Tuberculosis Day
World TB Day is celebrated on March 24 each year to raise public awareness and understanding about the world’s deadliest infectious killer—tuberculosis (TB)—and it’s the devastating health, social and economic impact on people around the world.
March 24 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. However, TB still claims 4 100 people lives each day and close to 27 000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. The emergence of drug-resistant TB poses a major health threat that could put at risk the gains made to end the global TB epidemic. World TB Day is an opportunity to focus on the people affected by this disease and to call for accelerated action to end TB suffering and deaths.
