(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 22 - Since 2000, about 66 million lives have been saved, thanks to global efforts to end tuberculosis.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has "undone years of progress made in the fight to end the disease".
For the first time in over a decade, TB deaths increased in 2020, when 9.9 million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died.
To remember it is the World Health Organization (WHO), which is asking for "greater investments" in view of the World Day dedicated to the fight against this disease, which is celebrated on 24 March.
Tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest infectious killers in the world.
Every day, nearly 28,000 people fall ill and more than 4,100 people lose their lives from this preventable and treatable disease.
The date of March 24 commemorates the day, in 1882, when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Mycobacteriumtuberculosis, thus paving the way for the diagnosis and treatment of this lung infection.
The theme chosen for World Day 2022 is "Investing to end tuberculosis. Save Lives" and conveys "the urgent need to invest resources to step up the fight and achieve the commitments made by global leaders".
This, reminds the WHO on the web portal, is "particularly critical in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic which has put at risk the progress made to put an end to tuberculosis and to ensure equal access to prevention and assistance", made more difficult by the growing spread of bacteria resistant to therapy.
(HANDLE).