On November 7, the World Health Organization published its Global TB Report 2023, revealing that India has made significant strides in enhancing case detection and mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on the TB program. The treatment coverage has risen to 80% of the projected TB cases, marking a 19% increase from the previous year.
Highlights of the Report:
- India’s endeavors have led to a 16% reduction in TB incidence in 2022 compared to 2015, almost twice the rate at which global TB incidence is decreasing, currently at 8.7%.
- During the same period, the mortality rate for TB has decreased by 18% both in India and globally.
- The World Health Organization has revised the TB mortality figures, decreasing from 494,000 in 2021 to 331,000 in 2022, reflecting a reduction of more than 34%.
- The report notes that India’s intensified case detection strategies have resulted in the highest ever notification of cases – in 2022, during which, over 24.22 lakh TB cases were notified, surpassing the pre-COVID levels.
- The key initiatives launched and scaled up by the government like specialised active case finding drives, scaling up of molecular diagnostics to block levels, decentralization of screening services through Ayushman Bharat Health & Wellness Centres and private sector engagement have resulted in significantly bridging the gap in missing cases.
- The report also notes that India has taken bold steps to prioritize TB elimination efforts with investing additional resources to the National TB Elimination Programme being implemented under the aegis of the National Health Mission.
- The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan has received a tremendous response across the country with over 1 lakh Ni-kshay Mitras from all walks of life coming forward to adopt over 11 lakh TB patients.
- Under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana about Rs 2613 Cr have been disbursed to over 95 lakh TB patients since its launch in 2018.
- Newer patient centric initiatives like Family Care Giver Model and Differentiated Care have been introduced to ensure further reduction in mortality and improvement in treatment success rates.
In the Global TB Report 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, had decided to release the data for India as “Interim,” with an agreement that the WHO would collaborate with the ministry’s technical team to finalize the statistics.
In more than 50 meetings between the technical teams of WHO and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, wherein the country team presented all the newer evidence generated, the in-country mathematical modelling developed including the data from Ni-kshay portal which captures the lifecycle of every TB patient during the course of their treatment.
The WHO team intensively reviewed all data presented and not only accepted, but also appreciated the efforts made by the country. This year, the Global TB Report has acknowledged and published the revised estimates for India with downward revision of the burden estimates, especially TB related mortality figures.
