World TB Day – March 24, 2011

	Children in Ethiopia read an information leaflet on TB. Source: Jan van den Hombergh/Stop TB

World Tuberculosis Day is to call attention to the devastation the disease causes and to mobilize action to combat it.

Between 1990 and 2009, deaths from TB declined 35 percent and prevalence decreased 14 percent. This is in large part due to global effort, large scale implementation of the DOTS strategy and involvement/engagement of public, private and community sectors.

TB has always been the signature disease of the urban poor. In a world that is urbanizing at a rate of 200,000 (people) every day, we must fight TB now before it becomes an unparalleled global killer. The frightening growth of drug-resistant strains of TB—some of which cannot be treated—make the case for combating the disease even more compelling.

Through President Obama’s Global Health Initiative, the United States is making major investments to prevent and control TB where the burden of the disease is highest. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is working in 40 countries with national TB control programs to deliver high-quality services to find and treat TB earlier to prevent the spread of the disease and the development of drug resistance. The programs are improving access and the quality of services in the public, private and community sectors.

U.S. Government TB Strategy
In 2008, U.S. Congress passed the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act, supporting an increase in TB funding over a five-year period. The Act requests the development of a U.S. Government (USG) global TB strategy. In May 2009, President Obama announced the Global Health Initiative (GHI), which adopts an integrated approach to fighting diseases, improving health, and strengthening health systems. The TB strategy describes how the USG will contribute to the goals to control TB, which are included in the Lantos-Hyde Reauthorization Act, as part of the broader GHI. The USG TB strategy was developed in consultation with all relevant USG partners including USAID, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Defense, and the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. Read the complete strategy [PDF, 483KB].

USAID Resources

• Fiscal Year 2009 Report to Congress: Building Partnerships to Control Tuberculosis - October 2010 [PDF, 2MB]
  
  
• USAID TB Country Profiles
  USAID has programs to combat TB in more than 40 countries around the world. Learn more about USAID's work in these nations.
  
  
• USAID's Fast Facts about Tuberculosis [PDF, 118KB]
  Read up on basic facts about TB for a quick primer on the effect of the disease around the globe, and the measures USAID is taking to fight it.
  
  
• Key Achievements in Tuberculosis: Fiscal Year (FY) 2009

Partner Resources

	Source: Stop TB Partnership

• World Health Organization (WHO) – A World Free of TB
  WHO is working to dramatically reduce the burden of TB, and halve TB deaths and prevalence by 2015, through its Stop TB Strategy and its support for the Global Plan to Stop TB.
  
  
• Stop TB Partnership – World TB Day 2011
  Download the World TB Day 2011 t-shirt designs, the World TB Day 2011 main document in six official U.N. languages, and World TB Day 2011 posters. You also can upload photos, posters, stories, and Web materials you have prepared for World TB Day on the World TB Day blog at www.worldtbday.org.