World Tuberculosis Day is marked as the day to commemorate Dr. Robert Koch’s announcement that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB in the year 1882, which helped furthermore towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
It is celebrated every 24th of March and this year the theme chosen by the World health organization is “Invest to End TB, Save Lives”. The theme draws attention towards the urgent need for investment in resources to boost up the fight against Tuberculosis to end this epidemic from the World.
According to WHO each day, over 4100 people lose their lives to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Hence Tuberculosis to this day remains a deadly disease, however, more investment is required to achieve the commitments to end TB which the world leaders talked of.
The key messages which the WHO announces on this day are as follows
Urgent investment of resources, support, care, and information are vital to winning the fight against TB
Essential TB services should be sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that gains made in the fight against TB are not reversed
Tackling health inequities to ensure health for all
Ending TB requires concerted action by all sectors
The WHO has also issued a ‘Call for Action’ for different sections of the society including the Ministries of Health and other public health leaders, Health workers, TB programme managers, Youth, and the General public.