World TB Day

Held on : 24th March

TB stands for Tuberculosis (also Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by Mycobacteria. In humans, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is the primary causative bacterium although other mycobacteria such as Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium africanum, Mycobacterium canetti, and Mycobacterium microti are also causative. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs (as pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the skin. Tuberculosis is spread through the air, when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit. World TB Day is observed on 24 March each year. It is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in the third world.

24 March 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 toward diagnosing and curing tuberculosis. In 1982, on the one-hundredth anniversary of Dr Koch's presentation, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) proposed that March 24 be proclaimed an official World TB Day. In 1996, the World Health Organization (WHO) joined with the IUATLD and a wide range of other concerned organizations to increase the impact of World TB Day.

World TB Day activities are organized in each country by health care professionals, educators, and members of the public who want to help reduce the burden of asthma. On this day governmental and non-governmental organisations organise programs which include fund-raising, free-of-charge TB screening, display of TB information and treatments, advertisement highlighting TB control and strategies etc.