KARACHI, March 16: World TB Day will be observed on March 24 to commemorate the identification of “mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative organism of tuberculosis, by Robert Koch on March 24, 1882.

The theme for the day will be “Stop TB, fight poverty”, stressing the sense of urgency of tackling TB. It also supports DOTS expansion, the corner-stone of the recently launched “Global Plan to Stop TB” and urges all stakeholders to accelerate action.

The theme further suggests that tackling TB, one of the several illnesses that affect the poor, is one way of achieving greater global prosperity and that stopping TB promotes economic development and reduces poverty.

The WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (MCH) in its recently issued report “Macro-Economics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development” mentions that substantial non-treatment cost of poverty-related diseases was often greater and considerably more far-reaching than the direct costs of treatment to the health service, including the cost of medicines, personnel and facilities used.—APP