Thousands of Saudi youth and local health corporations observed World TB Day this past week by taking part in a “Stop TB Art & Photo exhibition,” recognizing volunteers and partners participating in the campaign under the banner, “I am stopping TB; Million youth against TB.” World TB Day was observed across the Kingdom on March 24. Saudi youths and volunteers committed themselves to fight the deadly disease at the closing ceremony of the “Million Youth Campaign” which started on March 1 at Serafi Mega Mall. The Ministry of Health, along with the help of Saudi youth, carried out the campaign for awareness against the disease in schools, colleges, universities, malls and other places frequented by the public. Youths from various sectors of society – photographers, painters, educationists, especially from the medical field – were awarded appreciation certificates from the Ministry of Health, the Eastern Mediterranean Partnership to Stop TB and from the management of Serafi Mega Mall for their hard work. At the end of the program, Mohammed Bakhrieba, organizer of the campaign and official partner of the Eastern Mediterranean Partnership (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO), thanked the volunteers and officials for their help in making the campaign successful. “Many deaths from tuberculosis are HIV-related. Of the 9.3 million people who became sick with tuberculosis in 2007, 1.4 million were also living with HIV; and 456,000 HIV-infected people died of tuberculosis,” said Bakhrieba. “We are ending the campaign today but not the effort to spread awareness about the disease. It will continue because we want to save future generations from this killer disease,” he said.
