World tuberculosis day 2022: The disease of TB is officially 140 years old for the world but is still taking lives today. On the occasion of World TB Day on Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that TB kills 4,100 people worldwide every day, according to this, an average of 137 people die every hour in the world. The worrying situation is that every day 28 thousand people around the world fall prey to this disease, that is, every hour the TB bacterium makes 1167 people its victims. According to the statistics of the organization, about 14.96 lakh people die every year from TB worldwide. At the same time, 1.22 crore people are affected by it.
How about a 140 year old disease?
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch discovered mycobacterial tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis. At that time in America and Europe, one in seven people died from TB. A century later, on 24 March 1982, World TB Day was celebrated for the first time. In 1997, WHO Director-General Hiroshi Nakajima described DOTS as a better way to treat TB.
Invest, Save Lives to End TB
The theme of this year’s WHO is “Invest to End TB-Save Lives”. By the year 2022, an amount of $ 13 billion will be spent on the investigation, treatment and prevention of TB. In the year 2019, an amount of $ 5.8 billion was spent on this item, which declined by 8.7 percent in 2020 and the total amount spent in the year reached $ 5.3 billion, which is equal to the amount spent in 2016. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that cutting costs for TB diagnosis, treatment and prevention can promote the disease, poor countries will be more affected.
Who is most at risk of TB
According to the WHO, 95% of TB cases occur in developed countries. Patients infected with HIV are more likely to develop TB. Apart from this, people suffering from diseases related to the immune system are more susceptible to TB bacteria. Malnourished people are easy prey for this bacterium. In the year 2019, 19 lakh malnourished people got TB. 7.4 alcoholics and 7.3 lakh cigarette smokers were affected by TB.
Some special facts related to TB:
1. TB patient who has drug-resistant TB, only one in three patients get the right treatment on time.
2. 86 percent of TB patients in 30 countries of the world, one third in India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.
3. There is an average decline of two percent every year in TB cases. A total decline of 11 per cent has been registered between 2015 and 2020.
4. One crore people were affected by TB worldwide. In the year 2020, there were 56 lakh men and 33 lakh women and 11 lakh children.
5. The disease of TB is present in all the countries of the world and people of all age groups are coming in its grip.
(Figures: WHO)
Claim: Thousands of years ago bacteria were found in male skeletons
According to archaeologists, the first case of TB in humans was found nine thousand years ago in Atlit Yam, Israel. Geologists found TB bacteria in the skeletons of mother and child buried in the ground. Whereas in India this disease is believed to be 3300 years ago while in China it is considered to be 2300 years old. The world’s first report on TB was published in New York in 1893. The CDC published the first report nationally in 1953.
Pandemic poses a new challenge
According to WHO, between 2000 and 2020, due to better detection and treatment of TB, 660 million lives have been saved worldwide. The difficulties of TB patients have increased after the start of the corona epidemic. According to the report, 63 per cent of adolescents below the age of 15 years have not received timely treatment. At the same time, 72 percent of children under the age of five have not received the necessary treatment to prevent TB, which is a major risk.
India aims to end TB by 2025
The central government has set a target to eliminate TB from the country completely by 2025. Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya will inaugurate Step-up to End TB at Vigyan Bhawan on the occasion of World TB Day. It is known that Prime Minister August 2, 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in 2018 that the country has to be made TB free by 2025. At the same time, the United Nations has set a target to eliminate TB completely by 2030 under the Sustainable Development Goal.