World TB Day

Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is one of the most deadly viruses in the world, at one point killing one in seven people. Today the disease is largely confined to developing countries, yet it still kills over a million people every year. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are particularly hard hit by this deadly disease. In 2009, 9.4 million people became infected with TB, and over a million died of it. Death from tuberculosis is completely unnecessary. Although there is no vaccine for TB, there is medication, which if used correctly is almost always effective. TB can infect any part of the body, but its most common form attacks the lungs, in which case it is called pulmonary tuberculosis.

In a single minute, three people die from TB. In a single day, TB causes the equivalent in lives lost of 15 jetliner crashes.

Not only is it a health and human rights concern, the epidemic of TB represents a huge economic strain to the world economy. Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy to stop TB, and the former President of Portugal wrote, “We have evidence that not addressing the disease is more expensive than treating people. A 2009 World Bank research report showed that countries heavily burdened by TB could recoup 9 to 15 times their investments in TB control.”

World TB Day, falling on March 24th every year, is designed to bring awareness to the fact that TB remains an epidemic in much of the world. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Doctor Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the cause of TB, paving the way for the creation of treatment and hopefully one day a vaccine.