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The World Health Organization (WHO) released its Global TB Report 2024 on October 29, 2024. The report has acknowledged the tremendous progress India has made in closing the gap of missed TB cases since 2015. In 2023, India was estimated to have had 27 lakh TB cases, of which 25.1 lakh persons were diagnosed and put on treatment. This has buoyed India's treatment coverage to 89 per cent in 2023 from 72 per cent in 2015, thereby bridging the gap of missing cases.
The WHO acknowledged a drop in India's TB incidence - from 237 per lakh population in 2015, to 195 per lakh population in 2023 accounting for a 17.7 per cent decline - this is more than double the pace of decline as compared to the global decline of 8.3 per cent. This leap in coverage has been a result of the momentum India has created and sustained around TB case finding and reflects the efforts of decentralization of healthcare services through over 1.7 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandir across the country. While the WHO had downsized its estimation of TB mortality in India last year, the current report documents the sustained reduction in deaths due to TB achieved by India from 28 per lakh population to 22 per lakh population, a 21.4% decline The government has been able to strengthen and expand the National TB Elimination Programme with sustained domestic financing. The TB budget saw a historic 5.3-times leap in allocation from Rs. 640 crores in 2015 to Rs. 3400 crores in 2022-23. The WHO report notes that a majority of the funding of the TB programme comes from government resources. Over the years, India has been able to scaleup state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic tools, introduce newer & more efficacious treatment regimen and provide free screening, diagnosis and treatment to all TB patients. The private sector contribution has been significant in this effort with a contribution of 32.9 per cent of the total cases in 2023. The government is procuring over 800 AI-enabled portable chest x-ray machines to complement to the India's extensive TB laboratory network - the largest in the world, with 7,767 rapid molecular testing facilities and 87 culture & drug susceptibility testing laboratories spread across the country. This acknowledgement by the WHO signifies the paradigm shift India has brought to TB care over the past eight years. The Indian Government, in October 2024, announced the enhancement of support under Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) from existing Rs. 500 per month/patient to Rs. 1,000/month/patient for entire duration of the treatment. Till date, Rs3,202 crores have been disbursed to 1.13 crore beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana. And while this enhancement of NPY support will benefit all 25 lakh TB patients in a year, introduction of Energy Dense Nutritional Supplementation (EDNS) would cover approximately 12 lakh under-nourished TB patients (BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2 at the time of diagnosis). EDNS would be provided to all eligible patients for the first two months of their treatment. Further, the Union Health Ministry expanded the scope of nutritional support to household contacts of TB patients. In addition to TB patients, Ni-kshay Mitras will adopt the household contacts of TB patients for distribution of food baskets with a view to improve the immunity of the family members of TB patients. Apart from reducing TB cases and reducing mortality, this would lead to a significant reduction in out-of-pocket expenses (OOPE) incurred by TB patients and their families. In September 2024, the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare approved introduction of the BPaLM regimen - a novel treatment for Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) under its National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) as a highly effective and shorter treatment option. India has notified 19.88 lakh TB patients (Jan - Sept 2024) as compared to 19.08 lakhs during the same period in 2023, a 4.2 per cent delta increase. Private sector notification has increased to 7.22 lakhs in 2024 (Jan-Sept), as compared to 6.99 lakhs in 2023 (Jan-Sept). Despite 33 per cent of the notifications coming from the private sector, the programme has been able to achieve a treatment success rate of 87.6% in 2024 (Jan-Sept). Under Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (PMTBMBA) in 2024 (Jan - 30th October) 54,448 new Ni-kshay Mitra have been registered and 8 lakh 30 thousand 663 (8.3 lakh) food baskets have been distributed. In 2024 (Jan-Sep) TB preventive treatment (TPT) has been provided to 12.23 lakh beneficiaries. Adult BCG vaccination study in collaboration with ICMR has been started since 10th Jan 2024. So far, 14 State/UTs have started implementation, and more than 81.4 lakh vaccination doses have been given. World Health Organization (WHO) publishes Global TB Report each year. World TB Report 2024 was published in Geneva on October 29, 2024. (ANI)
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