World TB Day raises awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and efforts to eliminate the disease. One-third of the world’s population is currently infected with TB and it is the leading infectious cause of death in women worldwide, posing a major threat to women’s health security. The Stop TB Partnership, a network of organizations and countries fighting TB, organizes the Day to highlight the scope of the disease and how to prevent and cure it. The annual event on 24 March marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch detected the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. This was a first step towards diagnosing and curing tuberculosis. WHO is working to cut TB prevalence rates and deaths by half by 2015.
Visit the StopTB website to see informational videos about the human face of TB, read the 2011-15 global plan to stop TB, read the Stop TB newsletters and more! Click here to read more about why TB matters to women’s health.
