World Tuberculosis Day will be observed on Sunday to raise awareness about disease world-wide and the status of TB prevention and control efforts. It is also an opportunity to mobilise political and social commitment for further progress.
Progress towards global targets for reductions in TB cases and deaths in recent years has been impressive: TB mortality has fallen over 40% world-wide since 1990, and incidence is declining. New TB tools such as rapid diagnostics are helping transform response to the disease.
But the global burden remains huge and significant challenges persist: in 2011, there were an estimated 8.7 million new cases of TB and 1.4 million people died from TB over 95 percent of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. 2013 is the second year of a two-year campaign for World TB Day, with the slogan "Stop TB in My Lifetime". Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the disease.