March 24th, every year is observed as World Tuberculosis (TB) Day to raise awareness about this deadly infectious disease and accelerate global efforts to eliminate it, something which Papua New Guinea continues to work on especially with the high cases of the disease recorded each year. The Central Provincial Health Authority (CPHA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. James Amini is one of many health professionals on the eve of World TB Day, is calling for increased TB screenings to address the rising number of cases in the country. In 2024, PNG recorded over 45,000 new cases of TB, with young working-age adults and children being the most affected. The disease is highly concentrated in Port Moresby and Lae, the country’s main business hubs, posing a significant threat to workforce productivity and community health. Hence, strengthening prevention, early detection, and treatment efforts is crucial to combating TB’s impact nationwide. Dr. Amini said, TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that most often affects the lungs. He said, TB affects the respiratory system where overcrowding is one common factor that contributes to the rapid and widespread of TB, particularly in densely populated areas. He stated that TB spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or spits. However, he emphasized that tuberculosis is both preventable and curable with proper medical intervention and public health measures. “One of the most common types of TB is pulmonary TB, which affects the lungs. The symptoms include a persistent cough, chest pain, and breathlessness. Early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment are essential for curing pulmonary TB. The issue with TB is that it can affect all the systems in the body which then can affect the lymph nodes, the brain-TB meningitis, the bones and any part of the body.” “But the initial spread is through respiratory. So, overcrowding becomes an issue because it’s easy to pass on the germ easily.” Dr. Amini said, when testing is done for a patient, the whole family needs to be screened to be certain another family member is not infected. He stated that, if someone has a cough for more than ten days (or 2 weeks), night sweats and loss of weight, they need to get tested for TB as these are symptoms of TB. He further stated that, once a person recognizes the symptoms, they need to get checked. “When we have very good screening programs, were we screen the whole population to ensure that no one has TB, the numbers will go down. Because we will know who has TB, which people are developing symptoms, and they can be put on treatment.” This year’s theme is Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver, is a bold call for hope, urgency, and accountability. Meanwhile, according to the World health Organization (WHO), about a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria. That’s about 5–10% of people infected with TB will eventually get symptoms and develop TB disease.