Tuberculosis-a curable infectious disease most often affecting the lungs-kills 5 000 people every day.

There are more than 9 million new cases of tuberculosis every year, and an estimated 1.7 million people die annually of the disease-equivalent to three Titanic shipwrecks or 15 crashes of large passenger jets every single day. The disease strikes on all continents, although Asia and Africa are hardest hit.

Tuberculosis is the single biggest killer of young women worldwide, and targets people with weakened immune systems (due to HIV or other conditions), young children and the elderly, users of injectable illegal drugs, abusers of alcohol, smokers, people with an inadequate diet and people living and working in overcrowded conditions. There is no shortage of victims.

The physical symptoms of the disease-persistent cough, weight loss, fever, night sweats, loss of appetite, and coughing up blood-are compounded by the discrimination, stigma, rejection and social isolation faced by many tuberculosis sufferers. And tuberculosis is a major cause of poverty because it makes people too sick to work, and they and their families may struggle to pay for treatment. The economic loss caused by tuberculosis can be equivalent to 20-30% of a family's income, and hurts the economies of entire nations. Total costs for low-income countries have been estimated at US$1.2 billion annually.

Incredibly, the overwhelming majority of people with tuberculosis can be cured by taking a six-month course of drugs costing about US$20. Yet global efforts to fight the disease face a varied set of tough challenges, including the insufficient resources of low-income countries to address the disease and the need for better diagnostic tests and treatments.