TB Anywhere is TB everywhere - World TB Day 2007

26th June, 2007

This year’s World TB Day theme emphasises that although TB is a preventable and curable disease, it remains a global emergency due in large part to the inadequate investment in TB control, surveillance, research and development. The theme also reflects TB’s deadly synergy with HIV.

World TB Day, falling on 24 March each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in the developing world. March 24 commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way toward diagnosing and curing tuberculosis.

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World TB Day Campaign 2007 – Report from Himafar Unpad, Indonesia

26th June, 2007

On 23 March, Faculty of Pharmacy students from Padjadjaran University, Jatinangor, Indonesia, campaigned to raise TB awareness among all students, to mark World TB Day 2007. Pharmacy students provided information on TB prevention, reducing risk factors and staying healthy. They emphasized TB can be cured by taking prescribed treatment routinely.

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IPSF & IFMSA at WHA 2007

26th June, 2007

IPSF together with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) made a joint Statement to the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May this year. Increasing awareness among health professionals and the community of continuing drug resistance and promoting multi-disciplinary collaboration were key priorities of the Statement.

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Epidemic Levelling Off – Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2007

26th June, 2007

The global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic has levelled off for the first time since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a public health emergency in 1993. The Global Tuberculosis Control Report released today by WHO finds that the percentage of the world's population struck by TB peaked in 2004 and then held steady in 2005.

The report is available online at http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/2007/pdf/full.pdf

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Tuberculosis and Air Travel

1st June, 2007

WHO guidelines are now available on TB prevention during air travel. A health advisory from CDC followed confirmation of travel undertaken by a passenger with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) on a recent trans-Atlantic flight.

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