UNITED NATIONS

NATIONS UNIES

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
-MESSAGE ON WORLD TUBERCULOSIS DAY
24 March 2016
Between 2000 and 2015, tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment saved 43 million lives.
The TB mortality rate has fallen by nearly half. The Millennium Development Goal target of reversing
TB incidence has been achieved. But, the fight against this deadly disease is only half-won. This year
alone, TB will affect over 9.6 million men, women and children, and 1.5 million people will lose their
lives.
Last year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is one of the targets of the new Sustainable
Development Goals. TB disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable, the socially
marginalized and those lacking access to basic services/health services. Therefore, progress in ending
TB must go hand-in-hand with other SDG efforts to reduce inequalities, eliminate extreme poverty,
ensure social protection, achieve universal health coverage and end HIV/AIDS.
Total victory over TB will require a united front. Ending the epidemic requires actions beyond
Ministries of Health alone. As the World Health Organization End TB Strategy emphasizes,
departments responsible for labour, justice, social welfare, science and technology, internal affairs and
migration can all make a difference. We must also do more to engage affected persons and
communities, as well as non-governmental organizations, researchers and the private sector.
The task ahead is daunting. Drug-resistant TB poses a major global health risk. We need new
tests to rapidly diagnose people with TB; earlier, safer, easier and shorter treatment for infection and
disease; and effective new vaccines. We need to eliminate stigma and ensure all affected people have
access to care. And we need to be ready to keep people healthy in the face of complex emergencies and
unprecedented movements of refugees and migrants worldwide.
On this World TB Day, I call on leaders across government, civil society and the private sector to
unite to end tuberculosis. Together we can win the fight and end the TB epidemic by 2030.