World TB Day

Copyright infringement is not intended

Context: World Tuberculosis Day is being observed on 24th March, 2022 to raise public awareness about Tuberculosis (TB).

Details

On this day in the year 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacteria that causes TB. It paved the way for diagnosis and cure of this deadly disease.

About Tuberculosis (TB)

Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs.
The ‘Mycobacterium tuberculosis’ bacteria that cause TB are spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Most people infected with the bacteria that cause tuberculosis don't have symptoms. When symptoms do occur, they usually include a cough (sometimes blood-tinged), weight loss, night sweats and fever.
Treatment isn't always required for those without symptoms. Patients with active symptoms will require a long course of treatment involving multiple antibiotics.

Present Status of TB in India

Tuberculosis is one of India's major public health problems. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, India has the world's largest tuberculosis epidemic.
In 2020, India accounted for 26% of the incident TB cases across the globe.
India has an incidence rate of 192 cases per 100,000 of population.
India accounted for 38% of global TB deaths among HIV-negative people and for 34% of the combined total number of TB deaths in HIV-negative and HIV-positive people.
Further in 2020, India accounted for 24% of the global gap between estimated TB incidence and the number of people newly diagnosed with TB and reported.

Steps taken by the Government

In 2020, the Indian government made statements to eliminate tuberculosis from the country by 2025 through its National TB Elimination Program.
- Interventions in this program include major investment in health care.
- Providing supplemental nutrition credit through the Nikshay Poshan Yojana.
- Organising a national epidemiological survey for tuberculosis.
- Organising a national campaign to tie together the Indian government and private health infrastructure for the goal of eliminating the disease.
The ministry's commitment to eliminating tuberculosis in the country by 2025.
- As part of its efforts to eliminate tuberculosis, the Union Government changed the name of Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) to National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP) in December 2019.

Way Forward

The outbreak of Covid-19 and the emergence of new variants of coronavirus had brought unprecedented stress on the country’s healthcare system. It posed an extraordinary challenge to the healthcare infrastructure.
The National TB Elimination Program was quick to deploy effective mitigation measures and adapted to the changed environment to ensure that the TB patients across the country had access to treatment, despite facing many challenges due to the pandemic.
All Stakeholders must work together to achieve a TB-free India by 2025”.