On March 24 each year, we recognize World TB Day to commemorate the day when Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis (TB). It is a day to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social, and economic consequences of TB and to increase efforts to end the global TB epidemic.

TB has had an enormous impact on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, TB outbreaks were common and led to widespread illness and death. Outbreaks not only caused immediate suffering from the disease; response efforts were often ineffective and traumatic in their own right. They forced the removal of Alaska Native people from their homes and communities, resulting in losses in cultural identity and historical trauma that still affect us today.

The TB rates in the YK Delta also continue to be alarming. Data released by the CDC in 2022 showed that 1 in every 150 newly reported cases of TB disease in the United States were from the YK Delta, and the number of individuals with TB disease remained unchanged in 2023.

This past year, YKHC employees worked tirelessly to increase our efforts to identify and treat TB infections and disease. In 2022 and 2023, through an interdepartmental effort and partnerships with communities and schools, YKHC performed over 9,000 TB tests annually. This is three times more than the average number of tests performed annually between 2018 and 2021. We also began providing latent TB care management and expanded our efforts to provide increased support to individuals at increased risk for TB disease.

While we’ve made tremendous progress, there is still much work to be done. Your insights and experiences are critical to our continued efforts to address this challenge. We invite you to participate in a brief healthcare worker survey to help us understand how we can better support you and enhance our prevention and response strategies.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/tb_hcw

Please take a minute to participate in this survey, and thank you for all your hard work combating this terrible illness!