This is a past event
World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It 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 towards diagnosing and curing TB.
Every year, there is an estimated 9 million new TB cases but consistently 3 million cases were either not diagnosed, not treated, or diagnosed but not registered by national TB programmes (NTPs). Major efforts are needed to close this gap.
Following discussions and consultation with partners, the Stop TB Partnership has announced the theme for World TB Day 2015. The overall theme will continue on from 2014 - Reach the 3 Million. The main sub-theme and message for this year will be "Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone".
For World TB Day 2015, partners will continue to call for a global effort to find, treat and cure all people with TB and accelerate progress towards the bold goal of ending TB by 2035.
The Stop TB Partnership is developing a set of proposed campaign materials and messaging including a World TB Day Messaging Manifesto, updated World TB Day designs and visuals, and advocacy materials to support outreach to important stakeholders, including Ministers of Health and Parliamentarians.
- Venue
- Various, United Nations