World Tuberculosis Day

World Tuberculosis Day is a memorable date, celebrated annually on March 24 at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), which in 1993 declared tuberculosis a global problem. World Tuberculosis (TB) Day aims to raise awareness of the global TB epidemic and efforts to eradicate the disease.

March 24 was chosen due to the fact that in 1882 the German microbiologist Robert Koch announced the discovery of the causative agent of tuberculosis.

Currently, tuberculosis annually kills about 1.6 million people, the vast majority of whom (about 95%) are residents of developing countries . Tuberculosis kills more adults every year than any other infection. In third world countries, tuberculosis accounts for about 26% of deaths.

The most serious situation is with tuberculosis in general in Africa . Africa accounts for about 29% of all cases on the planet and 34% of all deaths from this infection. The incidence of tuberculosis in Africa over the past 15 years has doubled, increasing from 149 to 343 cases per 100 thousand people. An alarming increase in the reporting of cases of antibiotic-resistant forms of tuberculosis, the occurrence of which in Africa also shows extremely unfavorable trends.

The most dangerous situation in the world in terms of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis - the most lethal and dangerous form of it - has developed in the Russian Federation ^{[1] [2] [3]} . In the Russian Federation in 2009, 105 530 new cases of active tuberculosis were detected.