World Tuberculosis Day 2019

World Tuberculosis Day honours the date the disease was discovered 137 years ago while drawing attention to the devastating health, social and economic consequences that it continues to impose on people, families and economies around the world. This year’s theme emphasizes enough is enough: “It’s Time”. Of the 30 countries globally with the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB), 24 are in the WHO African Region. In 2017, nearly 2.5 million people who contracted TB lived in sub-Saharan Africa, and 665,000 of them died from the disease. On this day, we think of those who have died and we push for enriched efforts to keep more people from dying or even from becoming infected. In her message of observance for this day, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for the African Region, re-affirmed “the commitment of my office and that of all my technical staff across the region to work with governments, other partners and communities to support actions towards ending the TB epidemic by 2030, if not earlier. It’s Time to end this suffering and bring hope to TB patients and their families.”