KARACHI, March 23: Like elsewhere across the globe, World Tuberculosis (TB) Day will be observed in the city on March 24 to reiterate the pledge for coordinated and concerted efforts towards elimination of the infectious disease from the country.

Various organisations have announced holding of events, including an awareness walk and a seminar on TB, which is an illness of the respiratory system, and is spread by coughing and sneezing. Each year about 1.6 million people die of the disease, which is curable.

The first TB Day was observed in 1982 under the banner of the World Health Organisation and an international union working against TB and lungs diseases.

The day was marked a century after Dr Robert Koch presented his findings about TB bacillus to a group of doctors in Berlin.

Related experts estimate that about 250,000 new cases of TB, including 65,000 in Sindh, emerged every year in Pakistan. Here, people mostly fall victim to TB when they are young and the bread-earners of their families.

In connection with the World TB Day activities, the Pakistan Medical Association will arrange a lecture on “Problems in the management of tuberculosis” on its premises on March 24 at 2.30pm.

Dr Sohail Akhtar will deliver a talk on the occasion for junior doctors, family physicians and doctors not specialised in respiratory disease diagnosis and treatment.

The Sada Welfare Foundation will organise a seminar on “TB anywhere -- everywhere” at the auditorium of the National Institute of Child Health on March 24 at 11am.

Various NGOs under the arrangements of the Sindh TB Control Programme will bring out a candle rally starting at the Civic Centre, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, on March 25.

Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases Director Dr M. Ashraf Sadique has announced a World TB Day 2007 programme at the Dow University of health Sciences on March 26. DHUS Vice-Chancellor Dr Masood Hameed Khan will be the chief guest.

Dr Muhammad Irfan, Dr Nisar Ahmed Rao, Dr Zafaryab Hussain, Prof Zaman Shaikh will speak on the occasion.