Tuberculosis In India

TB-free India is a distant goal as national plan struggles to meet targets

Country's share in global TB burden narrowed from 27% in 2015 to 25% in 2024 but it still has the most cases in the world

TB still kills 1.23 million a year as WHO warns progress may slip away

The WHO's Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 shows the first decline in cases since Covid, but warns that shrinking funding and persistent risks could undo gains against the world's deadliest infection

Made-in-India TB tests validated by ICMR; offer cheaper, faster detection

In a boost to India's fight against tuberculosis, apex health research body ICMR has validated new indigenously developed tools that could bolster the country's diagnostic capacity and offer a cheaper detection option. Eliminating tuberculosis (TB) depends crucially on the ability to detect early, accurately, and universally, to initiate patients on treatment and curb community transmission. Among the recently validated tools is Quantiplus MTB FAST detection kit, developed by Huwel Lifesciences in Telangana, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in a note. Quantiplus is the first open system RT-PCR assay validated for the detection of lung TB as it can run on any existing PCR machine and is not limited to proprietary platforms. "This means, laboratories across India, even those without specialised 'closed' equipment, can now expand rapid molecular TB testing using standard PCR machines," a source explained. Furthermore, Quantiplus can test as many as 96 samples ...

TB remains India's top infectious killer, deadlier than HIV or malaria

Despite decades of control efforts, tuberculosis still causes far more deaths than HIV or malaria, hitting India's working-age population the hardest

Gujarat reports 34% drop in TB cases, 37% fall in mortality rate in 2023

The Gujarat government on Friday said the state witnessed 34 per cent reduction in the number of new tuberculosis patients and 37 per cent reduction in mortality rate in 2023 when compared to 2015. A release said Governor Acharya Devvrat held a meeting with senior officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and conducted a comprehensive review of the work being done under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. "In Gujarat, the number of new TB patients in 2023 has decreased by 34 per cent and deaths by 37 per cent compared to 2015. For this, the Union government has given Gujarat first place in the 'States with Most Improvement' category" officials told the governor," the release said. "The governor requested the officials to work as a movement to make Gujarat completely TB free. He said officials should not be lax in the work of TB control. He asked them to work seriously to achieve the target and to spread more ...

Centre to get 1,500 handheld X-ray machines for TB elimination programme

Currently, around 500 such portable X-ray devices are deployed at screening centers across the country and over 46,000 Gram Panchayats in the country have been declared TB-free

Tamil Nadu becomes first state to adopt TB death prediction model

Tamil Nadu has become the first state in the country to implement a model which predicts the probability of deaths among adults with Tuberculosis and has integrated it with the existing state-wide application TB SeWA, which triages them at diagnosis. The predictive model, developed by ICMR's National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) that was launched last week, aims to reduce the average time from diagnosis to hospital admission for severely ill TB patients, thereby bringing down the mortality rate further, said Dr Asha Frederick, State TB Officer of Tamil Nadu. The new feature has been added to Tamil Nadu's existing TB SeWA (Severe TB Web Application), which has been in use since 2022 under the state's differentiated care model initiative Tamil Nadu - Kasanoi Erappila Thittam (TN-KET), she told PTI. Under TN-KET, healthcare workers screen a triage every newly diagnosed adult with TB for very severe undernutrition, respiratory distress or poor physical condition using five variables

PM Modi calls for scaling up early detection to eliminate TB by 2025

India accounts for 26 per cent of global TB burden; PM highlights technology use, infrastructure expansion and targeted outreach as key to meeting 2025 goal

38% rise in notified TB cases in children aged 14 or below in 5 years

Experts indicate Covid effect, malnutrition, rise in drug-resistant TB as major factors

World Tuberculosis Day 2025: Is India on track to eliminate TB by 2025?

World TB Day is celebrated every year on March 24 in an effort towards the disease's eradication. In 2018, India launched the 'TB Free India Campaign' with the goal of eradicating tuberculosis by 2025

Centre set to expand TB programme nationwide, extend 100-day campaign

Initially implemented in 445 districts, the initiative has shown significant success in TB detection and treatment, prompting authorities to consider scaling it up nationwide

Tuberculosis cases rising in UK and US, why is it a global health concern?

With increasing mass movement, including due to climate change and war, the maxim "TB anywhere is TB everywhere" is more resonant today than ever

India to eliminate TB by 2025, to achieve target 5 yrs ahead of time: Nadda

Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Friday said that India will meet the target of eliminating tuberculosis (TB) from the country by the end of this year, five years ahead of the global target. Nadda said this while inaugurating the 9th National Summit on Good and Replicable Practices and Innovations in Public Healthcare System in Puri. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has organised the two-day-long conference. "As per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), India has to eliminate TB by 2030. But, we are all set to achieve it by 2025," Nadda said. "We have already identified 5 lakh TB patients during the ongoing 100-day TB Mukt Bharat campaign in 455 districts across the country. An extensive campaign is going on. We are going to include all aspirational districts and aspirational blocks under the campaign so that we will be able to eliminate tuberculosis by the end of 2025," he said. Nadda advised the participating health officers to treat the public representati

Nutritional support to half of TB households could prevent 4.5% deaths

Providing nutritional support to half the households with individuals undergoing tuberculosis (TB) treatment could prevent roughly 4.5 per cent TB-related deaths and 2.2 per cent of disease episodes by 2035, a modelling study has found. The study, published in The Lancet Global Health journal, estimated that more than 3.6 lakh deaths and over 8.8 lakh TB cases could be averted through such intervention. Typically, about 24 households would need to be treated of tuberculosis to prevent one death, while 10 would need to be treated to prevent one case, researchers, including those from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai, estimated. The nutritional intervention could have an additional cost of about USD 1,349 million on the health system, with potential benefits of USD 167 for every disability-adjusted life-year averted, they projected. 'Disability-adjusted life-year' is a metric that helps measure overall burde

Centre asks states, UTs to take steps to check spread of TB in jails

The Union Home Ministry has asked all states and Union territories to organise screening camps to detect and curb spread of tuberculosis in jails, saying that the closed setting and crowded areas in prisons may make them a breeding ground for transmission of the disease. In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, the home ministry said TB is a significant public health concern in prisons. The closed setting and crowded areas in the jails have the risk of becoming a breeding ground for TB transmission, exacerbating the burden of the disease within incarcerated populations and posing a risk to public health upon prisoners' release, the communication said. It said that inadequate screening and lack of awareness are seen as key challenges in controlling TB inside prisons. As part of its commitment in eliminating TB in India, the government of India recently launched a '100-Day Intensified Campaign on TB Elimination', which started on December 7, 2024. This nationwi

TB patients face high costs despite free diagnosis, treatment from govt

Despite free tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment under India's National TB Elimination Program, nearly half the infected people incur "catastrophic" costs due to a loss in wages and hospitalisation, a study has found. Published in the journal Global Health Research and Policy, the research estimated that typically, tuberculosis treatment and care costs a total of USD 386 for an individual. The National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) is aimed at achieving a TB-free India by 2025, while the World Health Organization's (WHO) 'End TB Strategy' targets 2035 to end the global epidemic. Researchers from the TB Support Network, WHO Country Office for India, New Delhi, and Indian Council for Medical Research-National Institute of Epidemiology, Tamil Nadu, interviewed over 1,400 infected people notified under the National TB Elimination Program, and whose treatment outcome was declared between May 2022 and February 2023. "Persons with TB (PwTB) in India incur high costs mainly due to lost ..

Nadda meets CMs, urges support for Centre's intensified TB campaign

Nadda called on CMs, lieutenant governors, state health ministers to monitor the campaign at state level and ensure the same is done by political and administrative leadership at the district level

Over 62 mn tuberculosis cases, 8 mn deaths in India during 2021-2040: Study

Over 62 million cases of tuberculosis and eight million deaths are estimated in India in the two decades up to 2040, along with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) loss of more than USD 146 billion, according to a study. The researchers, including those from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, said that low-income households would bear the larger share of health-related burden, while the high-income ones the larger share of the economic burden due to the disease. Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that can spread in the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. Primarily affecting the lung, the condition can be potentially fatal, as it can spread to other organs. The common symptoms include a persistent cough, chest pain, fever and fatigue. Improving case detection rates -- currently estimated to be 63 per cent -- and meeting the World Health Organization's End-TB target of 90 per cent could reduce clinical and demographic disease burdens by 75-90 per ..

Healthcare workers at higher risk of TB than general population, says study

Underlining critical occupation risks in the health sector, a new study has found that cases of tuberculosis are a lot more prevalent among healthcare workers in India in comparison to the general population. The analysis of 10 separate studies conducted in the last two decades between 2004 and 2023 found an average prevalence of 2,391.6 cases per 1,00,000 healthcare workers in India, far higher than the rate of 300 cases per 1 lakh population. The study, titled "Prevalence of Tuberculosis Among Healthcare Workers in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," is a collaborative effort by Dr Ravindra Nath from Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, along with Dr Jugal Kishore, Dr Pranav Ish, Dr Aninda Debnath, and Dr Nitin Panwar, from VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, and Dr Anirban Bhaumik from Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, Delhi. Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the most critical public health challenges globally, particularly in countries with high ..

TB fight gets shot in arm from AI's diagnosis, Wadhwani AI, Qure.ai lead

AI models can help in early TB detection due to their ability to analyse medical images with enhanced precision