India’s missing TB cases to fall from 1 million in 2015 to 260,000 in 2023: Mandaviya

After two challenging years of the pandemic, India’s tuberculosis (TB) incidence has fallen by 16 per cent, almost twice the global rate of decline, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday. times.

Addressing the Stop TB Partnership’s 37th Board Meeting virtually, he also said that the number of missing TB cases in India has reduced from 1 million in 2015 to 2.60 lakh by 2023. The number of missed cases is defined as the difference from the estimated number of cases. Incident cases and reported cases.

The Stop TB Partnership is hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). This is a collective force that will transform the fight against TB. In his speech, Mandavia said that tuberculosis has been a global health problem for decades.

“After two challenging years due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, globally we have seen an 8.7% decline in TB incidence, and in India we have seen a 16% decline in incidence, almost It’s twice as fast,” he said.

Regarding India’s commitment to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025, the Indian Health Minister said that during its G20 presidency, India actively advocated and resolved some issues of global importance.

These include using digital solutions to improve the effectiveness and coverage of health services; strengthening collaboration to enhance pharmaceutical research and development and manufacturing capabilities; and focusing on One Health and antimicrobial resistance – all of which are relevant to India and The world’s fight against tuberculosis resonates strongly.

“With less than two years left to reach India’s 2025 target, our approach going forward is to focus on prevention while saturating the coverage of TB testing and treatment services. Through our continuous efforts, the number of missing TB cases in India has been From 1 million cases in 2015 to 2.60 lakh cases in 2023,” Mandaviya said.

The Union Minister highlighted that the number of private sector notifications has increased more than eight times in the last nine years through focused and targeted engagement with the private sector through various interventions.

He added: “In 2023, 840,000 patients received notifications from the private sector, accounting for 33% of total notifications and the highest level on record.”

On India’s success in engaging people in the campaign to end TB, he said: “What we do at Jan Bajidhari means people are participating, which shows how communities can help join our fight against TB.”

Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, the world’s largest crowdsourcing initiative, a huge success with over 1,50,000 Ni-kshay Mitra coming up with a ‘whole-of-society approach’ to help over 10 lakh TB patients, Mandaviya added , they need nutrition and other support.

He also highlighted the launch of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, an outreach campaign of the government in which TB is one of the most important health indicators, with over 38 million people screened and over 1 million people referred for testing .

The Union Health Minister highlighted other initiatives and achievements of the government such as launch of ‘TB Mukt Panchayat’ initiative, ensuring provision of over 50 lakh courses of TB preventive treatment drug 3HP; provision of TB services at community level in over 1.60 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)