While COVID-19 has rightly taken a front seat in the global fight against infectious diseases, there are many devastating diseases continuing to plague our communities and causing significant loss of life. One of those diseases is Tuberculosis (TB).

Each year, on the 24th of March, the world unites to light up red for TB. This global campaign is designed to show solidarity and commemorate those who lose their lives to TB each year.

The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacteria that causes TB, which lead the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

In 1882 at the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and America, causing the death of one out of every seven people.

World TB Day is designed to build public awareness that TB is still an epidemic in much of the world and remains a significant public health challenge.

Despite being curable and preventable, TB is still the world's deadliest infectious killer. Each day, nearly 4500 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill. 

As with the Covid Pandemic, global efforts were made to combat TB. These efforts have saved an estimated 54 million lives since the year 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 42 per cent.

World TB Day highlights the global effort to find, treat and cure the estimated 10 million people worldwide who fall ill with TB each year. This includes approximately 3.6 million people who don't get the care they need, often due to factors such as poverty, stigma, conflict and lack of access to basic health services.

The Australian Chapter of 'Results', a group fighting to end poverty and disease, asked local councils and organisations to light up the buildings in their own communities, red! Results has galvanised 40 buildings in Australia and counting.

To see who participated, check out the 'Results' campaign page.

Keep up to date with COVID 19 information on the following links: 

Australian Government Department of Health 

Victorian Health and Human Services 

NSW Health 

Queensland Health 

ACT Health 

WA Department of Health 

Tasmanian Department of Health 

Northern Territory Department of Health 

SA Health 

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