By Jill Moss
DEVELOPMENT REPORT -March 25, 2002: World TB Day
This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Development Report.
March twenty-fourth was World Tuberculosis Day. The yearly event is held to improve knowledge,
understanding and action against tuberculosis. The main idea of this year’s campaign against tuberculosis is
“Stop T-B, Fight Poverty.
”
Organizers note the link between T-B and the world ’s poor people.
The World Health Organization estimates that about one-third of the world’s population is
infected with the bacteria that cause T-B. Infected people spread the disease by releasing
particles from their mouths when they cough, sneeze, spit or talk. About two-million people
die from tuberculosis each year.
This year’s campaign calls on the world community to expand the program developed by
the W-H-O to fight T-B. The program is called Directly Observed Treatment, Short -course,
or DOTS.
There are five parts in the DOTS discovery and treatment plan. The first step requires
governments and health officials to continue T-B control programs. The next step uses
microscope technology to identify infected people.
The third step is a drug treatment program that may continue for as many as eight months. The fourth step of the
DOTS program is a guaranteed supply of all needed anti-T-B drugs in countries where the program is in place.
Finally, the World Health Organization says countries must establish a system for recording and reporting T-B
cases. World T-B Day started in Nineteen-Eighty-Two. At that time, an organization in the African country of
Mali suggested that a day be organized to educate people about tuberculosis. The group wanted governments and
organizations around the world to recognize the event, similar to World Health Day.
March twenty-fourth is also the day in eighteen-eighty-two when scientist Robert Koch announced his discovery
of the bacteria that cause T-B.
Governments and organizations around the world planned major events to observe World T-B Day. In Cambodia,
for example, there was a public march through the capital, Phnom Penh. In South Africa, tuberculosis researchers
held a health conference. And in Switzerland, children designed “Get Well
”
messages for young T-B patients
in Afghanistan.
Officials hope World T-B Day will improve international efforts to fight the disease.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Bill White.
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