World Tuberculosis Day: One of world’s deadliest infectious killers, in numbers

World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is observed every year on March 24 across the globe. The day is celebrated to spread awareness about the devastating health, economic and social repercussions of TB. World TB Day gives a chance to step up in line with global efforts to end the TB epidemic. 

The disease is one of the deadliest infectious killer that takes away 4,000 lives every day. 28,000 people get infected to TB every day. With global efforts, over 63 million lives have been saved from the deadly disease since 2000.

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In 2019, around 10 million people got infected to TB with around 1.4 million who succumbed to the deadly disease. The theme of World TB Day for 2021 is “The clock is ticking.” World Health Organisation (WHO) has set to reach a few targets that are a big step in order to end the disease.

WHO has set the target of diagnosing and treating 40 million people with TB by 2022, which includes 3.5 million children and 1.5 million people who have drug-resistant TB.

The organisation is also set to reach 30 million people with TB preventive treatment by 2022 so that those most at risk receive a preventive treatment. In this initiative, it will reach 24 million household contacts of TB patients, including 4 million aged under 5 and 6 million people living with HIV. 

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It has also taken the pledge to provide and sustain sufficient financing to reach $13 billion a year in order to end the deadly infectious killer. You can also take the initiative to invest in TB research to make the funds reach $2 billion a year for better science, tools and delivery.