On the morning of 1st October, 2013, the very first plan of its kind was launched toward the goal of zero deaths in childhood TB. The launch was jointly brought about by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Stop TB Partnership, UNICEF and other partners, bringing out of the shadows this disease in children, which has been neglected so far.

Tuberculosis (TB) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – can we continue to tackle these separately? According to the Global TB Report (2012), in 2011, out of 8.7 million people who developed TB worldwide 1.1 million (13%) were HIV positive. An approximate of 0.4 million HIV-associated TB deaths took place in 2011 and TB is the most common opportunistic infection among people living with HIV (PLWH).  HIV increases chances that latent TB infection can become active TB disease and also increases the risk of death due to this.