Santa Barbara, CA (March 24, 2008) Direct Relief International joins the global community in recognizing World Tuberculosis Day on March 24, 2008. World TB Day commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of TB bacillus, and its aim or purpose is to create and maintain awareness about one of the world's deadliest diseases.

Tuberculosis Statistics:

• One third of the world's population is infected with TB.
• Each year, 9 million people around the world become sick with TB.
• Each year, over 2 million people die from TB.
• TB is the leading killer of HIV-infected people.

When Dr. Koch discovered that tuberculosis was a communicable disease caused by a bacterium in the late 1800s, the disease was considered a "global emergency". Not that much has changed in over a century. Although mortality from tuberculosis declined during the 20th century in industrialized countries, the World Bank calculates that the disease currently accounts for over 25% of all avoidable adult deaths in developing countries. TB typically affects the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty and disease.

Treating TB can have multiple benefits. These include preventing the spread of the disease, reducing morbidity and mortality, strengthening health systems, engaging medical providers, and reducing poverty. Direct Relief's efforts to address TB over the years have focused on providing anti-TB, and primary healthcare, drugs to high-burden populations or countries, and increasing the capacity of local health systems so they can maintain an effective system for identifying TB cases, providing treatment, and assuring adherence.

Regionally, Asia carries the highest burden of TB. In the 1980s and 1990s, Direct Relief's TB material support assistance was directed toward Asia with specific programs targeting the Tibetan refugee population in India and Nepal, and the Manila urban and slum population in the Philippines. In collaboration with the Tibetan Department of Health of the Government-in-Exile, located in Dharmsala, India, Direct Relief launched the Tibetan Refugee TB and Primary Healthcare Program in 1985. With virtually no genetic resistance to TB, Tibetan refugees forced to live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions were suffering from TB at a rate of three to ten times higher than the surrounding Indian and Nepali populations.

Direct Relief's medical shipments, provided over a five-year period, contained supplies of anti-TB drugs adequate for hundreds of first line treatment regimens, as well as an assortment of primary care medications and nutritional supplements. The provision of these medical products enabled the Health Department to treat refugees living in settlements throughout India and the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.

More recently, Direct Relief has been working to strengthen fragile healthcare systems in countries that suffer from a high incidence rate of TB. This includes many partner countries located in sub-Saharan Africa where co-infection with HIV has led to increasing numbers of TB cases. Direct Relief's efforts in this region focus on supporting healthcare facilities and systems that administer TB control and treatment programs. By supplying  primary care medications, nutritional products, lab and general clinic or hospital supplies, and other needed medical tools, Direct Relief's partners can expand their TB treatment activities, improve the health status of their patients, and spend more of their financial and human resources on the adherence component of the program.

The WHO-supported Global Plan to Stop TB, 2006-2015, is designed to dramatically reduce the global burden of TB by 2015 by ensuring all TB patients, including those co-infected with HIV and those with drug-resistant TB, benefit from universal access to high-quality diagnosis and patient-centered treatment. The strategy also supports the development of new and effective tools to prevent, detect, and treat TB. If the actions in the plan are implemented, millions of lives can be saved. In the coming years, Direct Relief will continue to support the Global Plan's objectives while doing everything possible to reach those most vulnerable to the disease.

About Direct Relief International
Founded in 1948, Direct Relief International is a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit organization focused on improving the quality of life by bringing critically needed medicines and supplies to local healthcare providers worldwide. Direct Relief is one of two charities ranked by Forbes that has received a perfect fundraising efficiency score for five consecutive years and is ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as California's largest international nonprofit organization based on private support. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.