World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The 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.   TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer. Each day, over 4000 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 58 million lives since the year 2000. To accelerate the TB response in countries to reach targets – Heads of State came together and made strong commitments to end TB at the first-ever United Nations High-Level Meeting in September 2018. World Tuberculosis Day 2021 Theme – ‘The Clock is Ticking’ – conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB. The theme of World TB Day 2020 - ‘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.

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