On March 24, 1882, the bacterium causing tuberculosis (TB) was discovered by Robert Koch. He announced his discovery that TB was caused by a bacteria in his presentation, “Die Aetiologie der Tuberculose,” at the Berlin Physiological Society conference. The discovery of the bacteria proved that TB was an infectious disease, not hereditary.

Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease, but every day approximately 4,400 worldwide die from it. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates nearly 70,000,000 lives have been saved since 2000; however, with the global pandemic and conflicts currently going on in the world, we are beginning to fall behind in our progress to end TB.

The WHO is advocating for the following actions to end TB:

1)  The UN General Assembly take a leadership role and advocate for TB 

2)  Domestic and international investments to fund critical programming to ensure access to prevention, care, and research

3) Governments/leaders to accelerate the rollout of new tools/guidance on prevention and treatment of TB

4) Putting the spotlight on tackling health inequalities; people with TB are among some of our most marginalized persons in society

5) Concerted action by all sectors:  providing the right services, in the right environment at the right time