Each year, the world commemorates 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.
Tuberculosis (TB) a serious infection of the lungs is caused by a bacterium that spreads through tiny droplets released in the air when one coughs or sneezes.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Africa might not achieve tuberculosis (TB) leg of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) by 2030 going by the current progress rate.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, who made the disclosure in a message to mark the 2022 World TB Day, observed that the globe saw an increase in fatalities for the first time in over a decade in 2021, and contributing factors, including reduced access to diagnosis and treatment in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She noted that with 36 per cent of TB deaths occurring in Africa, failure to invest in response was to take a toll on African nations, stressing that increased investment could be a game-changer to save millions of persons
TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. Each day, over 4100 people lose their lives to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 66 million lives since the year 2000.
The theme of this years’ World TB Day 2022 – ‘Invest to End TB. Save Lives.’conveys the urgent need to invest resources to ramp up the fight against TB and achieve the commitments to end TB made by global leaders. This is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable access to prevention and care in line with WHO’s drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.
More investment will save millions more lives, accelerating the end of the TB epidemic.