World TB Day is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world (affecting third of world population), causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in developing countries. The Stop TB Partnership (comprising the organizations and countries effective in fighting this disease) organizes the World TB Day seeking to reduce the incidence of the disease, and lessen the TB death toll by 2015.
The World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB.
Global and Regional Incidence:
WHO estimates that the largest number of new TB cases in 2008 occurred in the South-East Asia Region, which accounted for 35% of incident cases globally. However, the estimated incidence rate in sub-Saharan Africa is nearly twice that of the South-East Asia Region with over 350 cases per 100 000 population.
An estimated 1.7 million people died from TB in 2009. The highest number of deaths was in the Africa Region.
In 2008, the estimated per capita TB incidence was stable or falling in all six WHO regions. However, the slow decline in incidence rates per capita is offset by population growth. Consequently, the number of new cases arising each year is still increasing globally in the WHO regions of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia.
TB Incidence in KSA:
- The culminative number of new pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB cases was mounted to 4294 in 2010, at an incidence of 15.82 cases per 100.000 persons, with an increase of 0.26 cases per 100.000 persons from 2009. This increase is believed to be attributed to ongoing improvement in the registration and reporting of cases, as well the continuous awareness efforts on several occasions over the year, including the World TB Day.
- In 2010, the percentage of pulmonary TB was 69.61%, whereas the percentage of extrapulmonary TB was 30.39% of the total TB cases.
Internationally Approved Date: 24/3/2012
Locally Approved Date: 1/5/1433H
Theme:
Stop TB in my lifetime.
Targeted Categories:
Active TB patients.
Latent TB patients.
People in direct contact with TB patients.
Health workers in contact with TB patients.
The elderly.
AIDS patients.
Low-income people living in unhealthy environments.
Objectives and General Mission of the World TB Day:
- Eradication of tuberculosis, leading up to the level of “zero” cases in the whole society.
- Provision of valid and effective medication of patients.
- Provision cheap and accurate examination tests.
- Provision of effective vaccines for the prevention of tuberculosis.
- Seeking to attain a free-from-TB society.
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