World Tuberculosis Day, observed on 24 March each year, is designed to build public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis.
World TB Day is marked on March 24 to reflect the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes the disease tuberculosis (TB).
World TB Day is aimed at educating the public about the impact of TB around the world and it is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The theme of World TB Day 2019 is “It’s TIME”. The emphasis for this year’s event is to pressure world leaders to “act on [their] commitments”. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer and it is estimated that, each day, around 4,500 people lose their lives to TB and some 30,000 people fall ill.
Yet TB is a preventable and curable disease. So far, global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 54 million lives since the year 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 42 percent – but more can be done through political action.
