World Tuberculosis Day 2021: History, Theme and Significance

New Delhi: World Tuberculosis Day is celebrated each year on March 24. The day is observed to raise public awareness about the debilitating impact of TB on the health, social and economic wellbeing of an individual. World TB Day also works towards stepping up efforts to end tuberculosis.

History

World Tuberculosis Day is commemorated on March 24 as "the date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease," reads the official statement on the World Health Organization website.

Significance

It is important to keep talking about Tuberculosis as "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. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 63 million lives since the year 2000."

Theme

The theme for this year's World Tuberculosis Day is ‘The Clock is Ticking’. It signifies the urgency to act against the disease, which has long been neglected. It is even more so important to act right now as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused negligence towards TB patients.