World Tuberculosis Day

World TB Day, falls on March 24th each year, it is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB.

The Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS) provides grants to technically sound and innovative interventions to support the engagement of communities in national tuberculosis (TB) responses, especially in countries supported by the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. In the last seven years, the CFCS has given voice to community-based organizations and provided support to those engaged in advocacy and social mobilization activities. The goal has been to empower communities to be a part of all the steps in the fight against TB.

The CFCS has 3 primary objectives in its current campaign:
1. Strengthen existing or new national level TB constituencies that engage, represent and are accountable to communities.
2. Reinforce the capacities & responses of local communities who are part of the TB response.
3. Tighten linkages, collaboration and coordination between communities and government.

Expected Results
At a Local level: Strengthened, integrated a comprehensive TB response that explicitly responds to community needs.

At a National level: To develop effective community engagement, strengthened representation and subsequent accountability to communities in the national TB response, as well as strengthened linkages and partnerships between community groups, public agencies, the Global Fund Country Coordination Mechanism and other actors.

At a Global level: Documented best practices and evidence based recommendations to enhance community responses that are integrated & part of a comprehensive response to TB, which can be adapted and replicated in other countries.
Source http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/

Our care for others can be shown in many different ways. Scroll down to read the articles below on refugees, tuberculosis and water, also take a look at the items based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. 

Picture from Save the Children.

​

Take a look at the other articles below.

​

Caring for others 

Love is at the heart of Christian teaching, love of God, love of family, partner and children, and love of neighbour and stranger. Love is a word used in many different ways. Jesus highlighted the Old Testament teaching of love of neighbour, which means supporting and helping others who are in need. The problems facing refugees make the teaching very relevant in to the world in the 21st century. (see below)

In the modern world love of others can be seen through how people care for others. Those who care for people who are ill, caring for members of their family, and parents caring for their children. In the Church care work comes under the heading of Pastoral Care, but the church is no longer at the centre of care. The state and voluntary organisation are at the centre of care in the modern society. Health Care, emergency services, social services and the numerous charities care for people these include  cancer research, heart foundation, children’s charities and those caring for older people. There are too many to list individually.
 
Caring for others can mean being prepared to make scarifies to help others in need. In the modern world much attention is given to self centred behaviour, caring does mean putting others before our own selfish desires, but caring also bring its own joy and reward through knowing we have brought happiness to those we care for. Although there is a great deal of caring within our society, we only need to read a paper or listen to the news media to realise that there are many in our society and government who need to be persuaded to help the people in our society who are in desperate need of help.  

David Rogers Ministries

​​​The plight of refugees illustrates man kinds in humanity to other human beings.

Refugees are far to frequently abandoned, ignored and exploited. There are millions of refugees around the world, who are trying to escape warfare, poverty and political oppression. Many have paid thousands of Pound, Euro’s or Dollars to get to a safe country, but find themselves in refugee camps. The refugees in Lesbos, Samos for example are forced to live in horrendous condition, while the European Union does little to help. We see the same thing happening on the USA and Mexico borders and other parts of the world. Often refugees become victims of the slave traders as they have no money. Many women and girls are forced into sexual slavery. The most vulnerable are refugee families and unaccompanied children. We see in Europe many risking the lives in perilous boat journeys as the try to cross the Mediterranean and increasingly the English Channel. In North America people from South and Latin America try to make the way to USA and Canada, also suffer the same fate as those trying to get into Europe.

The Bible tell us to treat people from other countries fairly and help those in trouble. Deuteronomy 10.18-19 says “God makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly; he loves the foreigners who live with our people and gives them food and clothes. Show love for those foreigners, because you were once foreigners.” Leviticus 19.33-34 says “do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land and repeats the message of Deuteronomy.” Jesus taught us to love others as much as we love ourselves and help those in need.

Surely the time has come for the political leaders to put these teachings into action and work together to bring an end to the refugee crisis. It’s up to the governments to decide how they deal with this issue, whether unilaterally or through a joint action. Building walls is not the answer, often those coming into Europe cannot be returned because their safety cannot be guaranteed. Many Christians are working to help them, but Governments seem to have forgotten the teaching that we should help strangers when they are in trouble.