World Tuberculosis Day 2026; March 24th.

FORUM: "Yes! We Can End TB: Led by countries. Powered by people" World Tuberculosis Day 2026. The theme is a bold call to action and a message of hope, affirming that it is possible to get back on track and turn the tide on the TB epidemic, even in a challenging global environment. With decisive country leadership, increased domestic and international investment, rapid uptake of new WHO recommendations and innovations, accelerated action, and strong multi-sectoral collaboration, ending TB is not just aspirational - it is achievable. WHO is calling for urgent action to: accelerate the roll out of diagnostic technologies that can be used near the point-of-care and other innovations as part of a comprehensive testing network; To strengthen people‑centred TB care with meaningful community leadership and continuous engagement; To build resilient health systems to safeguard health security; To tackle the social and economic drivers of TB through multisectoral action; and To protect essential TB services amid global crises and funding constraints. While new diagnostic tools represent a critical step forward, ending TB will require sustained investment in research and innovation. Global funding for TB research remains far below the estimated annual need of around US$ 5 billion, leaving major gaps in the development of new diagnostics, medicines and vaccines needed to end the epidemic. WHO is working with partners to accelerate progress through initiatives such as the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, launched to fast-track the development and equitable access to new TB vaccines by aligning governments, researchers, funders and industry around shared priorities and coordinated investment. As countries mark World TB Day 2026, The WHO urges governments and partners to prioritize TB as a central pillar of health security and universal health coverage. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #WorldTBDay, #24March, #YesWecanEndTB, #Tuberculosis.

EVENTS: On Monday; March 24th; The World Health Organization (WHO) will commemorate the World Tuberculosis Day 2026 to urge countries to ramp up progress; Under the theme ''Yes! We Can End TB! Led by countries. Powered by people'' the campaign highlights a rallying cry for urgency, and accountability and hope. This year is critical, with opportunities to raise visibility and political commitment to end TB. On the occasion on World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, March 24th, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for an urgent investment of resources to protect and maintain tuberculosis (TB) care and support services for people in need across regions and countries. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease, responsible for over 1 million deaths annually bringing devastating impacts on families and communities. The Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 79 million lives since 2000. However, the drastic and abrupt cuts in global health funding happening now are threatening to reverse these gains. Rising drug resistance especially across Europe and the ongoing conflicts across the Middle-East, Africa and Eastern Europe, are further exacerbating the situation for the most vulnerable. Register to participate!

ONLINE TALK SHOW: On March 18th, 2026; From 13:30 to 16:00 CET; an Online Talk Show entitled ‘‘Yes we can end TB.’’ was held. Watch the talk show!

WEBINAR: A joint webinar of the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), dedicated to World Tuberculosis Day 2026. Campaign theme: “Yes! We Can End TB!: Led by countries, powered by people!” The event presented key findings, trends, and epidemiological signals based on data from the joint report “Tuberculosis surveillance and monitoring in Europe 2026”. It also highlighted the high burden of MDR/RR‑TB, gaps in treatment, and the scale-up of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Get the agenda programme and Watch the livestream!

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RESEARCH: A New Tuberculosis Strategy Shows Promise from Science | AAAS. Now a group in the Republic of Korea reports what they believe could be a potent new method of fighting TB: a combination of cheap drugs and a DNA vaccine. Learn more.

PUBLICATIONS: Funding: threat to global TB efforts - Early reports to WHO reveal that severe disruptions in the TB response are seen across several of the highest-burden countries following the funding cuts. Countries in the WHO African Region are experiencing the greatest impact, followed by countries in the WHO South-East Asian and Western Pacific Regions. Twenty seven countries are facing crippling breakdowns in their TB response, with devastating consequences, such as: Human resource shortages undermining service delivery; Diagnostic services severely disrupted, delaying detection and treatment; Data and surveillance systems collapsing, compromising disease tracking and management; Community engagement efforts, including active case finding, screening, and contact tracing, deteriorating, leading to delayed diagnoses and increased transmission risks. Nine countries report failing TB drug procurement and supply chains, jeopardizing treatment continuity and patient outcomes. The 2025 funding cuts further exacerbate an already existing underfunding for global TB response. In 2023, only 26% of the US$ 22 billion annually needed for TB prevention and care was available, leaving a massive shortfall. TB research is in crisis, receiving just one-fifth of the US$ 5 billion annual target in 2022 – severely delaying advancements in diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines. WHO is leading efforts to accelerate TB vaccine development through the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, but progress remains at risk without urgent financial commitments.
New guidance on TB and lung health: As one of the solutions to combating growing resource constraints, WHO is driving the integration of TB and lung health within primary healthcare as a sustainable solution. New technical guidance released by WHO outlines critical actions across the care continuum, focusing on prevention, early detection of TB and comorbidities, optimized management at first contact and improved patient follow-up. The guidance also promotes better use of existing health systems, addressing shared risk factors such as overcrowding, tobacco, undernutrition and environmental pollutants. By tackling TB determinants alongside communicable and non-communicable diseases, lung conditions, and disabilities through a unified strategy, WHO aims to reinforce the global response and drive lasting improvements in health outcomes. On World TB Day, WHO calls on everyone: individuals, communities, societies, donors and governments, to do their part to end TB. Without concerted action from all stakeholders, the TB response will be decimated, reversing decades of progress, putting millions of lives at risk and threatening health security. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease, responsible for over 1 million deaths annually bringing devastating impacts on families and communities.

STATEMENTS:

Statement by Dr. Tedros; Director of the World Health Organization on behalf the World TB Day 2026; March 24th.


Statement delivered by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe on World TB Day 2026.


Statement delivered by Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO's department for HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and STIs on World TB Day 2026.


Statement delivered by Hon. Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health, South Africa on World TB Day 2026.

World Tuberculosis Day 2024 March 24th.

FORUM: 'Yes! We can end TB!' World Tuberculosis Day 2024. 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. Following the commitments made by Heads of State at the UN High Level meeting in 2023 to accelerate progress to end TB, this year's focus shifts to turning these commitments into tangible actions. To help countries scale-up access to TB preventive treatment, WHO will release an investment case on scaling up the roll out of TB preventive treatment.The day will inspire hope and encourage high-level leadership, increased investments, faster uptake of new WHO recommendations, adoption of innovations, accelerated action, and multi-sector collaboration to combat the TB epidemic. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #WorldTBDay, #24March, #YesWecanEndTB, #Tuberculosis.

EVENTS: The World Health Organization (WHO) will commemorate the World Tuberculosis Day 2024 on Sunday March 24rd to urge countries to ramp up progress in the lead-up to the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB. The WHO will also issue a call to action with partners urging Member States to accelerate the roll-out of the new WHO-recommended shorter all-oral treatment regimens for drug-resistant TB. This year is critical, with opportunities to raise visibility and political commitment at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB.

 

ONLINE TALK SHOW: You are invited to participate on March 19th 2024, from 14:30 – 17:00 CET to the World TB Day 2024: Online Talk Show. The World Health Organization will use this occasion to urge investments for the scale up of tuberculosis screening and preventive treatment.

STATEMENT: Statement by Dr. Tedros; Director of the World Health Organization on behalf the World TB Day 2024; March 24th and the Statement by Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director, WHO Global TB Programme on the world TB Day 2024; March 24th.

"...Treatment currently looking at pentin on it for 3 months as well as ref and Ison it for 3 months we are not yet planning to move at least at the within the coming two years to the one month with pentin and ioniz it, because we've just started scaling up the three months refer pentin and ionizing and there are lessons that we have learned in terms of health system uh which needs to be strengthened because without doing that we're bound to fail when we go for the one month treatment option and next slide please and what then this means is that um we um we need to revisit the costing that was done for the NSP and one advantage was that since this has been costed within the NS key um and this is a structure this is coordinated by the CCM which is a structure that is a multi-sectoral structure we we leverage on the different sectors that are within to make sure that at least we get all the stakeholders to support this process but um when we look at the costing uh within in the NSP what we we saw was that we probably did under budget for for this intervention and um uh when I looked at what was estimated here at 7 billion uh we only budgeted over the three year period sorry 5e period for the Strategic plan only $44 million us and we probably need to look at him and the shortfall or revisit the costing first and then look at the shortfall and try and mobilize the resources to address the funding Gap and the other thing also related to this is that um the the challenge one of the challenges actually that we've we've encountered with the TPT and reaching household contacts is actually conduct the Outreach to households and Community level and this is part of Health System strengthening component and and this is something we probably need to look at and see how then we make sure that for us to succeed with this implementation we also uh try and strengthen and and and or maybe close the gaps where we have already identified that there are gaps and um the other area what I term marketing of a a TPT specifically because um there's a lot of resistance at Comm in communities around prevention and because people do not understand why they need to take medication to prevent a condition so we we going to look at how we change our communication strategy to to address um this Challenge and also use social mobilization strengthen social mobilization around this engaged Civil Society uh we have a very strong uh PL HIV Civil Society H to assist us particularly to increase demand at Community level for TPT and lastly we'll also look at um how we then monitor closely this intervention and identify barriers as we scale up we also during this will use the opportunity that we're also looking at Community Le monitoring to use that H to also get the sense of how the communities feel about this intervention as well as how best we can increase the the uptake and also look at the supply side in terms of what are the issues and concerns from from the communities otherwise um the other point was that as we scale up these interventions we also as we plan to uh also monitor for treatment outcomes we so that we understand uh what how many the proportion that actually completes treatment we also need to strengthen the pharmacovigilance as we are introducing a new drugs at a scale to understand as well in terms of what you are the common Adverse Events that are reported and that is next slide I think this is my last slide thank you and thanks to you uh Lind for this great presentation it's it's very good, you raise this important challenge right about the reluctance at times from both healthcare workers and people who are at risk to to use TPT and the work that you're doing to try and reverse this, I think the return on investment in South Africa with 1 is to 39 is I think a very strong argument that um that can be used right in in advocacy efforts in the country um just a small observation because a lot of our data go to 2050 right that we are presenting but um you can look at the estimates that go on to 2035 into in in in a short sort of the shorter time frame right in the article that is linked to the brochure um and I think this is a also will see that there are important gains to be made in the short term from from these Investments so with that I will come to the last presentation in this uh session and I invite David to make his presentation five minutes to you David thanks thanks very much hi everyone my name is David branagan I'm the TV project officer at treatment Action Group and I'll be providing an update from the 146 x24 campaign on delivering on the promise of new TB preventive treatments ending TB requires scaling up all the best available interventions including TB screening and TB preventive treatment as well as access to Rapid diagnostic testing Universal drug susceptibility testing and the best available shorter safer regimens for treatment of drug susceptible and drug resistant TB models show that all the of these interventions combined dramatically reduce TB incidents over time as well as related suffering and death from TB this new new investment case for scaling up TB screening and TB preventive treatment is a call to action for governments and donors to increase funding for Accelerated implementation of TB screening plus TB preventive treatment uh among people at risk of TB these interventions are essential to make progress in closing the 30% TB diagnostic Gap and preventing TB among the highest risk populations including people living with HIV child household contacts of people with TB as well as household contacts of all ages scaling up these interventions requires significantly increased investment not only in drugs and Diagnostics but in Health Systems this is what the late Dr Paul Farmer called the five staff stuff space systems and support necessary to deliver person- centered care and access to the best available tools to prevent diagnose and treat TB as a human right the campaign launched in 2022 calls on governments and Global Health actors to take concrete action to put in place the 5s's and scale up access to the best available who recommended regimens by the end of 2024 as a human right after more than 20 years of research and development we can finally treat TB infection in as little as one month and most forms of drug sensitive and drug resistant TB in just four and six months but relatively few people have access to these shorter safer regimens the campaign aims to change that this Friday March 22nd. the campaign is launching a mid- campaign report that details progress and gaps in scaling up access to the 146 regimens with specific recommendations for closing these gaps by the end of 2030. please as a result of scientific progress we can now treat TB infection in as little as one month with one HP or once weekly for three months with 3 HP between 2021 and 2022 there was a three-fold increase in the number of people receiving refy based short course TPT and the number of countries offering these regimens increased from 52 to 74 but universal access to TPT is a long way away 15.5 million people received TPT between 2018 in 2022 which is just over 50% of the targets set by governments at the first United Nations high level meeting on TB and just 16% of those who received TPT in 2022 were provided with a shorter safer one regimen data from the 2023 Global fund concept notes also indicate that while nearly all high burden countries intend to scale Up 3 HP during the grant cycle implementation of 1 HP remains much more limited due to a recent price reduction now costs just $9.99 per treatment course and the Pediatric formulation of 3hp remains the cheapest TPT option for kids next mid campaign report that will be launched later this week spotlights the leadership of countries in scaling up access to the best available shorter safer regimens in Malawi TB and HIV programs worked together to Pilot 3hp with support from Impact for TB and Civil Society proved instrumental in promoting the successful rollout of 3hp by raising awareness among communities to encourage uptake and adherence in Zambia stakeholder consultations and collaboration between HIV and TB programs was key to scaling up 1 HP among household contacts prisoners and other key populations the national TB program actively solicited feedback from end users which was overwhelmingly positive and within three months they had begun rolling out 1 HP in additional regions investments in expanding access to TB screening and short course TB preventive treatment is essential for making progress in the fight against TB as we see from examples in Malawi and Zambia it's also essential to Center the experience of people affected by TB to inform and guide the development and rollout of TB interventions we look forward to launching the mid campaign report on Friday March 22nd and tosharing more examples of country impact scaling up shorter safer TB regimens and recommendations for Country governments and Global Health actors to take concrete action to close gaps in access to these regimens before the end of 2024, thank you thanks very much David for this and we look forward to the report and the um on the midterm campaign so with that we finish this session and I hand over to Dr Kasa so thank you very much and Dennis it was a very rich session as well as the whole talk show uh we are moving towards the end of TB, thank you very much for staying with us for working with us and for believing that "yes we can end tb now'', I'm pleased to invite Dr Jerome Salomon assistant-director general for the Universal Health Coverage communicable and non-communicable diseases, he himself is Professor in infectious diseases Champions and To efforts with unwavering support Dr Jeron would appreciate your closing of this important event thank you thank you so much dear Teresa honorable ministers distinguished participants dear colleagues friends and partners today's discussions and dialogue at this important high level event on tuberculosis I've been inspiring and productive as we look towards accelerating the TB response over the next 5 years building on the commitments by world leaders at the 2023 United Nations high level meeting on TB as you heard TB continues to claim millions of lives and causes suffering to those affected and their families the experiences and work being doing by countries partners and Civil Society has been well showcased by with the Spotlight on Innovations and multi-sectoral engagement the need to ensure no one is Left Behind has been strongly highlighted especially in the case of migrants and refugees as the world grapples with unprecedented conflict and humanitarian crisis we need to redouble efforts to ensure all people with TB access quality prevention and Care in line with wh's drive towards achieving Universal Health coverage. I would like to remind you of our top calls for Action this year as I close wh is calling for high level leadership and action to end TB it's crucial to translate commitments made in the political Declaration of the UN highle meeting on TB into concrete actions actively working towards achieving key targets by 2027 we are calling for increased investments in wh recommend TB treatments Diagnostics prevention care and social protection that are crucial to save lives and reach TB targets faster financing for TB research must more than double to drive discovery of new tools including vaccines and to scale up life-saving Innovations the TB vaccine exelator Council that will launch last year is an important platform for this linked to the previous points we have placing a special focus on scaling up access to TB preventive treatment and screening services the investment case launched today is a vital advocacy tool to help facilitate this we are advocating for Global action to address Health inequalities and stigma for people with TB and over diseases we need all sectors all stakeholders from Ministries; Partners; health workers communities and those affected engaged and accountable and show we commit to invest in leading the NTB response and keeping the promises made to the millions affected by TB each year despite any hardships challenges or crisis that come our way we cannot falter in our commitment till we reach and save every person family and Community impacted by this deadly disease we call on you to join us in making Investments of your time energy support care or financing towards ending TB you can be a be on of hope everyone has a role to play in ending TB; individuals communities Civil Society organizations, businesses and governments I would like to thank our eminent speakers and panelist and you our wonderful audience for joining us in keeping the spotlight on ending TB we need to keep our promises there is not a moment to lose let us join forces in prioritizing and investing to end one of the world's top infectious Killers together yes we can end tb thank you very much so thank you colleagues and as as we close uh just to many thanks to Dr Jerome for inspiring closing remarks um as as we come to an end of this talk show just to note that we had hoped to have an interactive session within we've posted a link to the to a survey on the chat asking for your ideas and proposals on what action should be prioritized to accelerate the TB response many thanks to those of you who provided inputs already we'll keep this link alive please do share your suggestions we would appreciate it very much so thank you very much.

The Global Fund, World Health Organization (WHO), Stop TB Partnership.

SYMPOSIUM: The African Union Commission commemorates the 2024 World Tuberculosis Day under the theme: “ Yes!,We Can End TB”· Get the INVITATION from the African Union!

Let's Provide African Union Member states with a platform to strengthen awareness of AU policy documents on Tuberculosis treatment & Tuberculosis epidemic.

The World Tuberculosis Day 2024 event will bring together Ambassadors and/or Permanent Representatives to the African Union, Special Missions to the AU, Specialized Organs, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), UN Agencies, Development Partners, Civil Society Organizations, and other stakeholders involved in the TB response and strengthening of health systems across the continent.

Objectives of the meeting are to:

• The main objective of the event is to commemorate the 2024 World Tuberculosis Day under the theme: “Yes!,We can end TB”. 

The specific objectives are to:

• Provide AU Member States with a platform to strengthen awareness of AU policy documents on TB while fostering greater coordinated collaborative advocacy efforts towards ending TB;
• Raise awareness on targets and commitments in the UN HLM Political Declaration to foster accountability and country ownership;
• Accelerate response to childhood TB with a focus on the 2022 Call to Action on Childhood TB and Nutrition; Communiqué on Improved Political Commitment and Financing for TB for High Burden Countries and the Childhood and Adolescent TB Roadmap

Expected outcomes of the meeting: Fostered a greater understanding of AU policy documents and respective TB commitments by AU Member States.

A set of experiences and perspectives for strengthening TB response in Africa will be disseminated to all AU Member States after the Plenary sessions. The organizers are the Stop TB Partnership, Africa CDC and the Elisabeth Glaiser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

ILLUMINATIONS: Cities turns their monument with beautiful lights to mark the world tb day on March 24th..

World Tuberculosis Day 2021, March 21

                                       

FORUM: "The clock is ticking"; World Tuberculosis Day 2021

The theme "The clock is ticking" conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB made by global leaders.

World Health Organization (WHO).

A World TB Day campaign for action! On World TB Day, WHO calls on everyone to keep the promise to:

° Accelerate the End TB Response to reach the targets set in Sustainable Development Goals, WHO End TB Strategy, the Moscow Declaration to End TB and the political declaration of the UN High-Level Meeting on TB.
° Diagnose and treat 40 million people with TB by 2022 including 3.5 million children and 1.5 million people with drug-resistant TB. This is in line with WHO’s overall drive towards Universal Health Coverage and the WHO Director General’s flagship initiative “Find. Treat. All. End TB” jointly with the Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership.
° Reach 30 million people with TB preventive treatment by 2022 so that those people most at risk receive TB preventive treatment, including 24 million household contacts of TB patients - 4 million of whom are children under 5 - and 6 million people living with HIV.
° Mobilize sufficient and sustainable financing to reach USD 13 billion a year to support efforts to end TB; for every USD 1 invested to end TB, USD 43 is returned as the benefits of a healthy functioning society (Economist/ Copenhagen Consensus).
° Invest in TB research to reach at least USD 2 billion a year for better science, better tools and better delivery.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING. IT’S TIME TO KEEP OUR PROMISES. IT’S TIME TO END TB. Join us for an exciting special virtual talk show to commemorate World TB Day on 24 March at 13:00H CET.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing a special virtual talk show to commemorate World TB Day on 24 March. This will put the spotlight on TB in the midst of the ongoing COVID crisis. The theme for the Show and for World TB Day: ‘The Clock is Ticking’ – conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB made by global leaders. This is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable access to prevention and care in line with WHO’s drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.

The event will take place in a talk-show format with speakers connected by video on WHO’s interactive web-platform- End TB Forum. The main speakers will include Ministers, leaders and other high-level government representatives, Heads of Agencies, TB survivors, civil society and partners. The Show will be broadcast live, with interactive Q&A from the audience online.

World Tuberculosis Day 2014, March 24

 World TB Day, 24 March, is an opportunity to raise awareness about the burden of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide and the status of TB prevention and control efforts.

TB is curable, but current efforts to find, treat and cure everyone who gets ill with the disease are not sufficient. Of the 9 million people a year who get sick with TB, 3 million of them are "missed" by health systems. World TB Day provides the opportunity to call for further action to reach the 3 million. All partners can help take forward innovative approaches to ensure that everyone suffering from TB has access to TB diagnosis, treatment and cure.

• World TB Day 2014 brochure

Join the Forum of Discussions : World Tuberculosis Day - March 24,


Secretary-General, in Message, Says All Tuberculosis Sufferers Deserve Access to Treatment as Matter of Social Justice, Global Health Security

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Message for World Tuberculosis Day on 24 March:

Tuberculosis is the world’s second most deadly infectious diseases among adults, after HIV/AIDS.  Every year, TB kills 1.3 million people and causes nearly 9 million to fall ill.

The tragedy is that TB is curable, yet one third of those who have it — some 3 million people — do not get the treatment they need.  Most are poor.  Many are from marginalized populations such as migrant workers, refugees and internally displaced persons, prisoners, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities.

Progress in recent years has proven that we can tackle this threat with concerted efforts.  Between 1995 and 2012, global health interventions saved 22 million lives and successfully treated 56 million people suffering from TB.

To accelerate results, we need to increase access to health services and mobilize communities, hospitals and private providers to reach more people and treat them faster.  We must also invest more in research to find diagnostic tools, drugs and vaccines. 

Everyone with TB should have access to the services they need for rapid diagnosis, treatment and cure.  This is a matter of social justice.  It is also an issue of global health security, given the rapidly emerging problem of patients with deadly, extensively drug-resistant TB going undetected.  Even when they are diagnosed, many lack access to effective treatment.

On World Tuberculosis Day, I call for intensified global solidarity to eradicate this preventable disease.  By caring for the 3 million people who do not have the treatment they need, we will foster a better future for all humankind.

 "Missing millions" push on World TB Day | United Nations Radio

One third of the estimated 9 million people who get sick with tuberculosis each year do not receive care, according to the World Health Organization.
WHO says those who are "missed" by health systems often live in the world's poorest, most vulnerable communities or are among marginalized populations such as migrants, refugees, prisoners, indigenous populations or drug users.
Tuberculosis or TB is curable, but current efforts to find, treat and cure everyone who gets the disease are falling short.
Patrick Maigua spoke to Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Global TB programme at WHO for World Tuberculosis Day, observed 24 March.