World TB Day is celebrated on March 24. The slogan for 2010, "On the move against tuberculosis: Innovate to accelerate action," reflects the need to scale up efforts and continue to seek new and innovative ways to stop this disease. This day serves to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a communique, the Ministry of Health says the TB-infected persons in Moldova are treated free of charge, no matter if the person is insured or not. During the last few years, the number of new cases of TB has decreased, to 3,807 last year. But the incidence of TB in children rose from 230 cases in 2008 to 235 cases in 2009. The number of cases of respiratory forms of TB grew by 6.5%. The disease can affect all the people, but the risk is higher in cases of malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions, overpopulation, reduced access to medical services, the Ministry of Health says. Tuberculosis is one of the most common infectious diseases. It is estimated that one third of the world's population are infected with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. The active form of this disease appears in about 8.8 million persons every year and causes nearly 3 million deaths a year, making tuberculosis the second cause of death for infectious diseases after AIDS.