World TB Day 24 March 2025

21 Mar 2025

World Tuberculosis (TB) day takes place on 24 March each year. Its purpose is to help raise public awareness and strengthen efforts to end the global TB pandemic.

TB is a preventable and curable bacterial infection that occurs throughout the world and remains one of the world’s deadliest infections.

The COVID-19 pandemic reversed years of progress made in the fight against TB. However, since 2022, access to appropriate TB services and treatment is improving globally.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO):

• In 2023, an estimated 10.8 million people fell ill with TB worldwide, including 6 million men, 3.6 million women and 1.3 million children.
• TB is present in all countries and age groups.
• TB is a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance (when germs, known as “microbes” that cause infection learn to adapt to survive medicines (such as antibiotics) that would normally kill them)
• TB is the leading cause of death in people living with HIV.
• Since the year 2000, global efforts to fight TB have saved an estimated 79 million lives.

The theme for World TB Day 2025, 'Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver' which is a call for hope, urgency and accountability in the fight against TB.

Further information about World TB Day 2025 and how you can get involved is available on the World Health Organization website.

Advice for travellers

TB is spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs. If you are in close contact with an infected person, these droplets might land in your eyes, nose or mouth and cause infection, or you might touch a surface which has become contaminated with infected droplets and then transfer them to your eyes, nose or mouth with your hands.

TB can affect any part of the body, including the lungs.

• See the fitfortravel Tuberculosis page for further information on the disease.