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Dear friends, colleagues and partners As we come together to commemorate World TB Day, we stand in solidarity with the millions of people who fall ill with TB each year and remember the millions who have lost their lives from this preventable and curable disease. We would like to salute all the health workers at the forefront of the fight to end TB and other diseases, including communities, civil society, and advocates, national TB programmes, partners and donors for their tireless dedication and support to the fight to end TB. This is a pivotal moment for the global fight to end TB. We have strong commitments with concrete targets, made by world leaders in the political declaration of the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, which provide a strong impetus to accelerate the TB response. 2024 is a year of action to ensure these commitments are met and millions of people benefit from life-saving TB prevention and care services. The theme of World TB Day 2024 - ‘Yes! We can end TB!’ – conveys a message of hope that getting back-on-track to turn the tide against the TB epidemic is possible through high level leadership, increased investments and faster uptake of new WHO recommendations. On World TB Day, WHO is calling for action on several fronts to ensure that the commitments made to end TB are achieved: •High-level leadership and action to end TB; •Sustainable investment of resources, support, care and information that are vital to ensure universal access to TB care and for research; •Scaling up of access to TB preventive treatment and screening services, building on the newly released WHO investment case; •Advancing multisectoral engagement and accountability in close collaboration with countries, partners and civil society; •Tacking health inequities to ensure health for all. We should remain positive, constructive and believe that Yes! We can end TB! But to make it happen everyone should ask themselves – "What Can I Do To End TB?" WHO will continue to provide global leadership for the TB response, working in close collaboration with all stakeholders until we reach and save every person, family and community impacted by this deadly disease. Together, Yes! We can end TB! Thank you.
Dr Tereza Kasaeva
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