BRIGHTON, UNITED KINGDOM, March 24, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today is World TB Day 2020. The World Health Organization states; “As we mark World TB Day 2020, the disease remains the world’s top infectious killer. In 2018, 10 million people fell ill with TB worldwide and 1.5 million people lost their lives to this disease.”

Sadly, the world finds itself dealing with a new threat, COVID-19. Many will become sick and as yet, an unknown number of those will die.

Timur Abdullaev, Board Member of TBpeople said; “Today, on the World TB Day, we stand in solidarity and with resilience in the fight against TB and COVID-19. Apart from surviving the world’s deadliest disease, we have gone through fear, isolation, stigma and discrimination, the very same challenges thousands of people are now facing globally with COVID-19. We see how the epidemic is hitting those most vulnerable, and we also see media and the public blaming and shaming people with COVID-19. We see how health systems are struggling to provide care to those in need, and we also see that even strongest and well-resourced systems are failing to save lives of all affected by the virus. We see how healthcare workers are giving all their time and energy fighting on the frontline, and we also see how they themselves are losing their lives trying to save others"

Abdullaev continued; "There is something we all can do to help stop the virus. We can stay home and break the chain of transmission. We can remain human and avoid stigmatizing or blaming those affected. And we can be thankful to those giving their lives to save ours. And as always, a lot depends on those with power and resources. Your decisions may slow down and halt the spread of the virus, but you have to make sure that your decisions do not make people pay an unnecessarily high price.”

However, while the growing COVID-19 pandemic continues to be in the highlights, more than ever TB appears to match its title of a silent killer, claiming more than four thousand lives every day. Therefore, it is critically important not to lose focus and continue our fight against it.

TBpeople, the global network of people affected by TB, is pleased to have, this World TB Day 2020, signed a letter of intent to sustain collaboration in the future with TBnet, a European grass-root consortium consisting of health care professionals and scientists, aimed at promoting quality of care for tuberculosis patients by addressing health-inequalities, providing expert guidance in areas where clinical evidence is missing, defining research priorities, conducting multicenter clinical studies, and training early career European clinicians and scientists.

Olena Rzhepishevskaya, PhD, Steering Board member for Advocacy of TBnet, said; “TBnet community has been happy to cooperate with TBpeople for two years. We have one common goal – to eradicate tuberculosis completely! All our joint work in the past and new projects in future will be focused on this.”

TBpeople is also pleased to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, Cooperation and Representation with TBpeople Philippines, the newly formed national network of people affected by TB and the first TBpeople chapter in the region of Asia and Pacific, further expanding our international network.

Paul Thorn, Head of Secretariat of TBpeople said; “Solidarity and unity are essential in the fight against any disease which knows no borders. TBpeople will continue to find and work with allies in the fight against tuberculosis, wherever they are in the world. We human beings are united in the air that we breathe, proven by our experience with COVID-19. We call for a joined up effort of all governments to tackle every public health issue faced by humanity today.”

Paul Thorn
TBpeople Global
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