On World TB day, March 24th, embarked on the mission to spread awareness about world's deadliest infectious disease, students of Government Medical College Trivandrum, pedalling our way to the midst of the community, organised a Bicycle ride and an awareness campaign at Manaveeyam Veedhi, the cultural hub of Trivandrum. The programme was organised jointly by TMC Cycling Club, IMA-MSN, Manaveeyam Theruvorakoottam and Indus Cycling Embassy. The campaign included End TB badge distribution, TB awareness wall art, small street play, End TB photo challenge and talk by Dr. Anupama madam and Dr. Sibi sir . The Medicos cycled from their campus to Manaveeyam wearing red t-shirt and badges highlighting the importance of the day. "End TB" badges were distributed to the gathering, inviting them to be part of this campaign. The interactive talk session by Dr Anupama madam and Dr. Sibi sir was informative covering all Preventive and Curative aspects of Primary, Secondary, Multi Drug Resistance and Childhood TB. The street play by medicos, Sabari and Hari, simplified the concepts related to TB and gave the message that the infection is completely curable on early diagnosis and complete treatment. A delightful musical session was organised by Manaveeyam Theruvorakoottam. The gathering expressed their support by signing the Wall Posters. We express our gratitude to the immense support from Dr. Anupama madam, Dr. Sibi sir, IMA Trivandrum, Prakashji(ICE) and PGs of Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Trivandrum.
Each year, we commemorate 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 the world’s deadliest infectious killer. Each day, nearly 4500 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 54 million lives since the year 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 42%. To accelerate the TB response in countries to reach targets – Heads of State came together and made strong commitments to end TB at the first-ever UN High Level Meeting in September 2018.
The theme of World TB Day 2019 - ‘It’s time’ – puts the accent on the urgency to act on the commitments made by global leaders to:
- scale up access to prevention and treatment;
- build accountability;
- ensure sufficient and sustainable financing including for research;
- promote an end to stigma and discrimination, and
- promote an equitable, rights-based and people-centered TB response.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a joint initiative “Find. Treat. All. #EndTB” with the Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership, with the aim of accelerating the TB response and ensuring access to care, in line with WHO’s overall drive towards Universal Health Coverage.
This World TB Day, WHO calls on governments, affected communities, civil society organizations, health-care providers, and national/international partners to unite forces under the banner “Find. Treat. All. #EndTB” to ensure no one is left behind.
It’s time for action! It’s time to End TB.
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Athul Vivek,
Co-founder and Convenor, TMC Cycling Club
2015 MBBS batch, Government Medical College Trivandrum
