World Tuberculosis Day 2025

What is the World Tuberculosis Day?

Each year, WHO commemorates World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.1.25 million people died of TB in 2023 and 10.8 million people fell ill with TB in 2023. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 79 million lives since the year 2000.

What is this years theme?

The theme of World TB Day 2025 – ‘Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver’ highlights the critical need to eradicate tuberculosis, the deadliest infectious disease globally. Aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, it underscores the global commitment to ending TB by 2030.

Theme World Tuberculosis Day 2025:

Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver

Commit: World leaders at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting vowed to accelerate efforts to end TB – now, urgent action is needed through swift implementation of WHO policies, stronger national strategies, and full funding.

Invest: Ending TB requires bold and diversified financing to drive innovation, close gaps in prevention and treatment access, and advance research.

Deliver: Commitments must translate into action by scaling up WHO-recommended interventions, including early detection, diagnosis, preventive treatment, and quality care, with success relying on community leadership, civil society, and cross-sector collaboration.

More information about tuberculosis:

TB is caused by the bacillus Mycobacteria tuberculosis which is spread when people sick with TB expel bacteria into the air; for example, by coughing. TB typically affects the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body.
About a quarter of the world’s population is infected with M. tuberculosis and thus at risk of developing TB disease.
Drug-resistant forms of TB are a major contributor to deaths from antimicrobial resistance globally. In 2019, about 0.5 million people fell ill with drug-resistant TB.
Although 63 million lives have been saved since 2000, the pace of progress is slow, and actions and investments fall far short of those needed to end the TB epidemic.

Implementing the end TB strategy: the essentials, 2022 update

Implementing the End TB Strategy: The Essentials 2022 is a comprehensive compendium of essential published guidelines, policies and resources which describe the actions needed at national level to achieve the ambitious global
goal of ending the TB epidemic by fully implementing the World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy.

The compendium summarizes and updates the 2015 version, Implementing the End TB Strategy: The Essentials and collects all new and available guidance in one publication. Intended as a resource for national TB programmes (NTP’s) and all stakeholders engaged in TB care and prevention, it emphasizes the need to prepare detailed national operational guidance on the implementation of the End TB Strategy to meet the needs of individual countries and diverse stakeholders. This is a “living document” and will be updated as more resources and guidelines are developed or revised.

Download the strategy document as PDF: