World TB Day 2019

24 March 2019 is World TB Day. 

TB is preventable and curable, yet it remains the world’s most common infectious disease killer.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10 million people fell ill from TB in 2017 and 1.6 million people died. Only 64 percent of the estimated 10 million global TB cases were actually diagnosed and notified. In 2017, approximately 558,000 people developed TB that was resistant to rifampicin (RR-TB), and of these, 82 percent had multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Only one in four people who needed treatment for MDR/RR-TB in 2017 actually received it.

In order to end the TB epidemic, PATS joins in urging the TB community to hold leaders accountable for commitments they have made, and to push governments to support the changes needed to realise the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2030. 

Access the statement and factsheet released by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), which PATS is a member of.