World Tuberculosis Day - 2015
World TB Day, falling on 24th March each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB.
Background
On World TB Day, 24 March, WHO is calling for new commitments and new action in the global fight against tuberculosis – one of the world’s top infectious killers.
There has been tremendous progress in recent years, and the world is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reversing the spread of TB by 2015. But this is not enough. In 2013, 9 million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died.
WHO strategy to end the global TB epidemic
Last May, at the World Health Assembly, governments agreed on ambitious new 20-year (2016-2035) strategy to end the global TB epidemic.
WHO’s End TB Strategy envisions a world free of TB with zero deaths, disease and suffering. It sets targets and outlines actions for governments and partners to provide patient-centred care, pursue policies and systems that enable prevention and care, and drive research and innovations needed to end the epidemic and eliminate TB.
On World TB Day 2015, WHO calls on governments, affected communities, civil society organizations, health-care providers, and international partners to join the drive to roll out this strategy and to reach, treat and cure all those who are ill today.
24 March 2015 - the day to change gear and speed up global efforts to end TB altogether.
