After two challenging years of the pandemic, India has seen a reduction in tuberculosis (TB) incidence by 16 per cent, almost double the pace witnessed globally, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday.
Virtually addressing the 37th Board Meeting of the Stop TB Partnership, he also said the number of missing TB cases in India has reduced from 1 million in 2015 to 0.26 million in 2023. The number of missed cases is defined as the difference between the estimated number of incident cases and those notified.
The Stop TB Partnership is hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). It is a collective force transforming the fight against TB.
In his address, Mandaviya said TB has been a global health problem for decades.
"After two challenging years dominated by disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, globally we saw a reduction in TB incidence by 8.7 per cent, while in India, we were able to demonstrate a reduction of 16 per cent, almost double the pace," he said.
On India's commitment towards ending TB by 2025, the Union health minister said that under its G20 Presidency, the country diligently advocated and addressed selected concerns of global importance.
It included improving the effectiveness and reach of health services using digital solutions; strengthening cooperation to enhance pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capabilities; and focusing on "One Health" and Anti-Microbial Resistance -- all of these having strong resonance with India's and the world's fight against TB, he said.
"With less than two years left for India's target of 2025, our approach going forward is focusing on prevention, while we saturate coverage of services in the detection and treatment of TB. With our continuous efforts, the number of missing TB cases in India has reduced from 1 million in 2015 to 0.26 million in 2023," Mandaviya stated.
The Union minister highlighted that with a focused and targeted engagement with the private sector through various interventions, there has been an increase in private sector notification by more than eight times over the past nine years.
"In 2023, 0.84 million patients were notified from the private sector which contributed to 33 per cent, highest ever, of total notifications," he added.
On India's success in encouraging people's participation in the End-TB movement, he said, "Our approach of Jan Bhagidhari, which means people's participation, has shown how the community can help join our fight against TB."
The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, the world's largest crowd-sourcing initiative, has been a huge success with over 1,50,000 Ni-kshay Mitra coming forward in a "Whole of Society Approach" to adopt over 1 million TB patients to provide them nutritional and other support they need, Mandaviya added.
He also highlighted the launch of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, an outreach activity of the government where TB was among the most important health indicators with more than 38 million individuals being screened and over one million referred for testing.
The Union health minister highlighted other initiatives and achievements of the government like the launch of the 'TB Mukt Panchayat' initiative, the securing of over 5 million courses of TB preventive treatment drug 3HP; and the provision of TB services at the community level in over 1.6 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.