[State Department] Today, on World Tuberculosis Day, the global community acknowledges the progress made and the challenges that lie ahead in fighting tuberculosis (TB). While COVID-19 has had a devastating global impact over the past year, TB has long been the world's leading infectious disease killer and continues to kill more people in low-and middle-income countries than any other infectious disease. Despite being preventable and curable, TB sickens 10 million people and takes 1.4 million lives, year after year.