Today, March 24, marks the day of World TB Day. On this day, around the world, public health associations and other disease controlling, researching, or simply fighters, raise the public's awareness of tuberculosis. The article "ATS Honors World TB Day", talks about the day and what it is about. Basically, The American Sanatorium Association (now known as the ATS) was founded and has worked hard trying to prevent and find cures to diseases such as TB. The president of the ATS is quoted in the article talking about the importance of infectious disease awareness saying "it is essential that the United States continues to play a strong leadership role in global TB control efforts". This is important for the association as well as the people of the world.
This article was very appealing to me because frankly, I had never heard of World TB Day and it intrigued me. I almost feel bad I've never heard of it because I'm probably one of many in the US who doesn't. This article opened my eyes to TB and how people are still trying to prevent it and help with it. I felt it related to class and the modern ways of raising awareness during the Polio epidemic. Devoting a whole day to TB is a big deal, and shows people just what a big deal TB is. This technique, as well as writing articles about the disease and the day are very popular nowadays and can be seen starting back in the days of FDR's presidential balls.
This article can be found at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/220160.php
It's important to raise awareness of a disease and it's great that because of this people are more likely to donate to foundations to fund research to cure such diseases. However I do wonder if there is a deficit in terms of awareness in which some diseases get more attention than others despite being equally problematic. A classic example seems to be between breast cancer and prostate cancer which are equally fatal and just as widespread. It's important to focus on only a certain number of problems at a time, but I can't help being disturbed by our limitations.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's sad that not a lot of people know about national TB day. I as well did not know that it existed. Awarness ahould be raised for a disease as powerful as TB. I also agree with what Sean has said about the distribution of attention given to fatal diseases.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Sarah you are not alone, I had no idea that this dat even exsisted either. Like you I feel bad that I have never herd of it. The thought behind this day seems very important. TB as we know is a very devistating disease and having a whole day dedicated to this disease is awsome. IT make you wonder what would happen if there were more days dedicated to other diseases,would they have the same impact.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about this day either, Sarah. I think that articles like these should be more prominent in our newspapers because it's clearly a very important part of health improvements with preventing the spread of infectious disease. I agree with Sean that our attention and awareness distribution of fatal sicknesses needs to be re-evaluated. TB is something that more people should be aware about in our country, along with many other infectious diseases that are paid little attention as well!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Sarah, alone with everyone else. Don't feel bad because you are definetely not the only one who was unaware of TB today. This was a good choice for an article, and I think it is awesome that orginizations like the ATS put in so much effort to find cures and preventions for diseases like TB. Hopefully a lot of people get a chance to see or hear about this article so they can also become aware of the diseases that are still around.
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ReplyDeleteI did not know that there was a world tb day either. I think this is a great idea to raise awareness about TB and this might make more people want to donate time or money to help to end TB. It would be interesting to see the difference between TB awareness now and TB awareness before the world TB day because this day must have raised awareness by a lot.
ReplyDeleteI really like your article choice, Sarah. It is interesting to hear more about TB because it is not a disease that we typically hear a lot about in the news. I think it's great that there is a "World TB Day," and I think it would be beneficial to raise awareness about other infectious diseases too. Many Americans do not have a great deal of understanding about diseases like cholera or AIDS because they do not directly affect our lives. It is important to raise awareness about infectious disease around the world.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really great article choice. It is very different from a lot of the other ones that have been posted before. I think that it is really great that there is a World TB Day. I think that it should really help to raise awareness about more dangerous infectious diseases like this one. I had no idea that there was a World TB Day.I think that it is a great thing to find out about, and spread the word about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Caroline as well as everyone else. This article does help raise awareness about TB by having World TB Day and making it known. I had never heard of World TB Day before reading this. I think its a great way to raise awareness for TB and is a good idea to educate people about this disease.
ReplyDeleteI think that this article definitely shows one of the many instruments used in fighting disease. Along with vaccinations and everything else, a lot of times people just need to be made aware of the issue. Having a day just for that purpose is an excellent way to do this. So, I really liked this article as I think it is a great way to raise awareness for TB.
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