World TB Day is observed annually on March 24 to raise awareness about TB and efforts to end the global epidemic, marking the day in 1882 when the bacterium causing TB was discovered.
TB is an ancient disease that is still with us. It is preventable and curable, and yet, worldwide, TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. Ending the TB epidemic in all countries by 2030 is one of the targets of UN Sustainable Development Goal #3: Good Health and Well-Being.
While TB is rare in most of Canada, that is not true in Canada’s north, where in recent years TB rates in Inuit communities have been as much as 300 times higher than those of non-Indigenous people born in Canada.
On this World TB Day, learn more about this disease and efforts to end it. Click here to learn more about TB in Canada’s north. And here to find out more about global efforts to end TB.
