World TB Day

• 25 Mar 2022

• World TB Day is observed on March 24 each year to raise public awareness and understanding about one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers - TB and its devastating health, social and economic impact on people around the world.
• March 24 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.
• The theme for this year’s observation was - ‘Invest to End TB. Save Lives’ to convey the urgent need to invest resources to ramp up the fight against TB and achieve the commitments to end TB made by global leaders.

Sharp rise in TB Cases in India

• India reported a sharp 19 per cent rise in tuberculosis cases in 2021 over the previous year, according to the India TB Report 2022 released by the Union Health Minister.
• At the same time, there has been an increase in the mortality rate due to all forms of TB between 2019 and 2020 by 11 per cent in India.
• According to the Global TB Report 2021, the estimated incidence of all forms of TB in India for 2020 was 188 per 1 lakh population.
• India aims to eliminate TB by 2025 according to the National Strategic Plan for Elimination of Tuberculosis (NSP 2017- 25) and eighteen States have committed to Ending TB by 2025 by formally implementing State specific Strategic Plans.