WHO World TB Day Message
Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director, WHO Global TB Programme
Dear friends, colleagues and partners
As we come together to commemorate World TB Day, we stand in solidarity with the millions of people who fall ill with TB each year and remember the millions who have lost their lives from this preventable and curable disease. We would like to salute all the health workers at the forefront of the fight to end TB and other diseases, including communities, civil society, and advocates, national TB programmes, partners and donors for their tireless dedication and support to the fight to end TB.
This is a pivotal moment for the global fight to end TB. We have strong commitments with concrete targets, made by world leaders in the political declaration of the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, which provide a strong impetus to accelerate the TB response. 2024 is a year of action to ensure these commitments are met and millions of people benefit from life-saving TB prevention and care services.
The theme of World TB Day 2024 - 'Yes! We can end TB!' – conveys a message of hope that getting back-on-track to turn the tide against the TB epidemic is possible through high level leadership, increased investments and faster uptake of new WHO recommendations.
On World TB Day, WHO is calling for action on several fronts to ensure that the commitments made to end TB are achieved:
- High-level leadership and action to end TB;
- Sustainable investment of resources, support, care and information that are vital to ensure universal access to TB care and for research;
- Scaling up of access to TB preventive treatment and screening services, building on the newly released WHO investment case;
- Advancing multisectoral engagement and accountability in close collaboration with countries, partners and civil society;
- Tacking health inequities to ensure health for all.
We should remain positive, constructive and believe that Yes! We can end TB! But to make it happen everyone should ask themselves – "What Can I Do To End TB?"
WHO will continue to provide global leadership for the TB response, working in close collaboration with all stakeholders until we reach and save every person, family and community impacted by this deadly disease.
Together, Yes! We can end TB!
Thank you.
Dr Tereza Kasaeva
Director
Global TB Programme
World Health Organization
World TB Day Video Message
WHO Media briefing on global health issues
21 March 2024, Geneva | Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization provided an update on World TB Day at WHO's Virtual press conference on global health issues.
WHO World TB Day Online Talk Show
19 March 2024, Geneva | Over 170 participants joined the World Health Organization (WHO) Online Talk Show to commemorate World TB Day on 19 March at 14:30H CET. The high level event was opened by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who officially launched the investment case on TB screening and preventive treatment. The event featured a rich agenda with a distinguished line up of speakers including TB survivors and advocates, civil society, Honorable Ministers of Health, Ambassadors, heads of agencies, partners and WHO leadership across all 3 levels.
WHO World TB Day press conference
18 March 2024, Geneva | Over 50 journalists joined a Virtual Press Conference organized by WHO to mark World TB Day. Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO's Global TB Programme, was joined by Dr Saskia den Boon, WHO Technical Officer and Ms Ashna Ashesh, TB survivor and public health professional representing the Civil Society Taskforce on TB, to share key messages and release a new investment case on TB screening and prevention. Access the press release here
World TB Day video messages from Ministers of Health
Key WHO resources released in the lead-up to World TB Day
A WHO investment case to support countries in advocating for and allocating increased resources to scale-up TB screening and preventive treatment towards reaching new targets committed by Heads of State at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, was launched on 19 March during the WHO World TB Day Talk Show with strong support from partners. This document presents the findings of a modelling study that examined in detail the costs and benefits of TB screening plus TB preventive treatment (TPT) in four countries – Brazil, Georgia, Kenya and South Africa – which may serve as examples for other settings with a similar epidemiological context. The results of the assessment show that relatively modest investments can achieve significant health and economic benefits in all four countries and provide a return of up to US$ 39 for each dollar invested.
New guidelines on the use of a new class of diagnostic technologies: targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) tests for the diagnosis of drug-resistant TB
WHO is excited to announce the release of new guidelines on the use of a new class of diagnostic technologies: targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) tests for the diagnosis of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in the third edition of the Consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis. Module 3: Diagnosis. Rapid diagnostics for tuberculosis detection. The recommendations provide a novel approach for the rapid detection of drug resistance to new anti-TB drugs using the latest technologies.
The guidelines are accompanied by a WHO operational handbook, which provides laboratory personnel, clinicians and other clinical staff, as well as ministries of health and technical partners, detailed guidance on implementing the evidence-based recommendations, including recent updates on targeted NGS tests. It describes the WHO-recommended tests for the rapid bacteriological diagnosis of TB disease, including procedures for the tests, model algorithms, and the steps and processes required to implement and scale up new tests to diagnose TB and detect resistance to anti-TB drugs.
TB sequencing portal
WHO has recently launched a new TB sequencing portal with more than 56,000 sequences. The portal, developed in partnership with FIND and Unitaid, represents the most advanced sequencing and phenotyping knowledgebase for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The portal includes a dashboard visualising the data used in the WHO mutation catalogue. Access here
