World Tuberculosis Day 24 March, 2024 – Theme & Importance

World Tuberculosis Day is a global healthcare event celebrated on the 24th of March every year since 1982, intending to remind and cherish achievements made toward the control of tuberculosis (TB). It also encourages everyone to join the ever-growing movement of eradicating tuberculosis and its antimicrobial resistance as much as possible.

World Tuberculosis Day reminds the world that tuberculosis is still the number one killer among the infectious causes of death. Although tuberculosis is a curable and preventable disease, the control of tuberculosis demands a highly cost-effective health intervention.

Tuberculosis and antibiotic drug resistance

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that most commonly affects the lungs. TB disease spreads via the air by coughing, sneezing, and spitting. It is believed that around one-fourth of the worldwide population has been infected with tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is synonymous with the development of drug resistance in the world. No doctor speaks about either of those without mentioning the other! The main culprits in the risk of transmission and development of drug resistance and its increase in severity and mortality are the delays in diagnostic confirmations and inadequacy in treatment.

Despite TB affecting low- and middle-income nations excessively, the global population of patients suffering from tuberculosis is 170 crores, of which 58.7 crore live in South East Asia. Each year more than 4000 Europeans die from the illness. In India, around 25,90,000 suffer from tuberculosis, with means every 188 people of one lakh Indian population is infected.

World Tuberculosis Day 2024 Theme

This year 2024, World Tuberculosis Day theme is "Yes! We can end TB!" a call to bring up awareness about tuberculosis by adopting World Health Organization (WHO) recommended innovations, thus accelerating action and multisectoral collaboration to turn the tide against the epidemic.

Year by year, themes of World Tuberculosis Day

• World Tuberculosis Day 2023 - Yes! We can end TB!
• World Tuberculosis Day 2022 - Invest to End TB. Save Lives
• World Tuberculosis Day 2021 - The Clock is Ticking
• World Tuberculosis Day 2020 - It’s time to End TB
• World Tuberculosis Day 2019 - It's time for action
• World Tuberculosis Day 2018 - Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world

This year, 2023, also witnesses the agenda towards ending TB, with several high-level opportunities to raise awareness by increasing policymaking assurance and enhancing investments for the TB response.

Significance of World Tuberculosis Day (WTBD)

Tuberculosis is still one of the world's deadliest infectious killers. Every day, over 4,400 people die due to tuberculosis, and another 30,000 people become infected with this avoidable and curable illness.

Since the year 2000, global efforts to eliminate tuberculosis have saved an estimated 7.4 crore lives. However, the COVID-19 epidemic, wars in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and socioeconomic inequality have reversed years of gains in the fight to eradicate tuberculosis and imposed an even higher burden on those affected, particularly the most vulnerable.

WHO highlighted in its most recent Global Tuberculosis Report that TB incidence and fatalities had increased for the first time in over a decade.

For all of these above reasons, the awareness of tuberculosis is necessary for the allocation of translational research funding in reducing antibiotic resistance.

History of World Tuberculosis Day (WTBD)

World TB Day has been commemorated annually on the 24th of March each year since 1982 initiated by the WHO in order to honour the centennial anniversary of Dr. Koch’s discovery in finding the bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) which causes tuberculosis, thus, paving the path for the disease's diagnosis and treatment.

Every year by organizing events and various activities on this day, the goal of increasing public awareness and dissemination about the preventive knowledge of one of the world's deadliest infectious killers is achieved.

Symptoms of Tuberculosis

A person suffering from tuberculosis transfers it through the air, especially during cough. As a result, physicians urge persons with active tuberculosis to stay at home and away from other people as much as possible until they are no longer contagious. The following are the common symptoms of TB through to identify:

• Coughing for three or more than three weeks
• Coughing associated with blood or mucus
• Chest pain, or pain during breathing or coughing
• Unintentional weight loss
• Fatigue (generalized weakness)
• Fever (usually in 60-85% of patients)
• Night sweats (heavy sweating during sleep)
• Chills (heavy shivering)
  

Preventive Tips for Tuberculosis

Here are some tips for preventing TB infection:

• Minimizing contact with people who have active tuberculosis lowers the chance of transmission.
• Washing hands frequently and protecting the mouth when coughing or sneezing.
• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet, regular exercise, and proper sleep can improve the immune system and reduce the chance of tuberculosis infection.
• Completing the entire course of TB therapy as advised by doctor lowers the risk of drug-resistant TB and prevents recurrence.
• Addressing socioeconomic issues such as poverty, hunger, and overcrowded living circumstances can assist to lessen the burden of tuberculosis in vulnerable populations.
• Treating latent TB infection with antibiotics can prevent the infection from developing to active tuberculosis.

Department of Pulmonology