Each year, World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 is commemorated 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.
TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.
* Each day, nearly 4000 lose their lives to TB, and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.
* In 2019, 1.4 people died from TB. According to estimations, during 2020, 1.8 million people died from TB, partly due to a reduction in TB services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Essential TB services needed to be sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that gains made in the fight against TB are not reversed.
The theme of World TB Day 2021 – ‘The Clock is Ticking’ –conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB. 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.
There is an urgent need for innovation in order to develop more efficient screening tools, vaccines, and medications.
A-Patch project is aiming to harness nanotechnology in order to develop a non-invasive, sputum-free triage test to be available worldwide – TO END TB!
For information about the World TB day – https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-tb-day/world-tb-day-2021
