World TB Day 2025: Yes! We Can End TB!

In this special commentary in recognition of March 24 as World TB Day, Yale School of Public Health student Cenyun Guan, MPH '25 (Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases), discusses the implications of tuberculosis and the urgent need to raise public awareness and further investment to achieve the ultimate goal of ending TB.

Do you know what the world’s deadliest infectious disease is? If you’re still assuming it’s COVID, you might be surprised. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TB has returned to its position as the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent - claiming over 1.25 million lives in 2023 and surpassing COVID.

Despite being preventable and highly curable, TB continues to have devastating health, social, and economic impacts globally. According to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, 10.8 million people fell ill with TB in 2023, but only 8.2 million were diagnosed and reported to public health authorities. Although TB incidence, deaths, and catastrophic costs have improved substantially since the WHO End TB Strategy was announced in 2015, progress remains far below WHO's original 2025 targets.

Hence, these sobering facts highlight the urgent need for more action on and attention to TB, especially as the U.S. withdraws support for TB control from dozens of countries around the world.

World TB Day is an annual event held on March 24, dedicated to raising public awareness about TB and its impact, and to advancing the goal of ending TB. This year’s theme, “Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver”, highlights three critical pillars (Source: Stop TB Partnership, https://www.stoptb.org/):

• Commit: Reaffirm global leaders' pledges at 2023 UN High-Level Meeting to end TB through concrete actions, including implementing WHO guidance, strengthening strategies, and securing funding.
• Invest: Advocate for increased and diversified investment to accelerate TB response efforts and end TB by 2030.
• Deliver: Turning commitments and investments into action, focusing on evidence-based interventions, early diagnosis, preventive treatment, and high-quality care for drug-resistant TB, through collaboration across sectors.

It’s time to come together and join the fight to end TB! Share your words and experiences, raise awareness about TB, and take action. Together, we can defeat this ancient disease. Let’s tell the world loudly: Yes! We can end TB!