World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is commemorated annually on March 24, to raise public awareness about the ongoing impact of TB and the need to enhance efforts to end TB. Global efforts in TB care are estimated to have saved more than 60 million lives in the last 20 years alone. Yet this is not enough to reach the targets of WHO’s End TB Strategy in the coming years.
TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers claiming millions of lives, and causing millions more to fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed an even heavier burden on those affected, leading to disruption of essential TB services and additional deaths. The theme of World TB Day 2021 – ‘The Clock is Ticking’ – aims to remind global leaders that efforts to end TB must be kept up, in spite of challenges introduced by COVID-19.
To aid in the effort to find all people with TB, this year for World TB Day the WHO Global TB Programme is releasing updated recommendations and implementation guidance on systematic screening for TB disease, including new recommendations on the use of chest radiography to improve early detection of TB.
In this context, an ISR-WHO World TB Day 2021 symposium on Systematic Screening for TB and the Role of Chest Radiography will be held on March 23, 5pm-7pm CET.
The program will feature renowned speakers from ISR, WHO and other relevant international organizations and will be announced shortly.
The ISR collaborates with the WHO as an NGO in official relations, to facilitate the global endeavors to improve patient care and population health through medical imaging. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ISR collaborated in the WHO Rapid Advice Guide on the Use of chest imaging in COVID-19 as part of the WHO-ISR collaboration work plan.
We look forward to welcoming you on March 23!
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