Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the health challenges. Various efforts are being made to tackle the cases of TB and there is some progress in this field. Tuberculosis is a health problem in India and different measures are being taken by the government.
The recent report by WHO titled Global Tuberculosis report 2024 was released, as per the data released there has been a decline in the incidence of TB in India. The TB incidence in the year 2015 is 237 per lakh population and in 2023 it drops to 195 per lakh population as per the report.
A decline of 17.7 per cent is seen from 2015 to 2023 in tuberculosis incidence. This decline in Tuberculosis incidence is double than the decline at global level which is 8.3 per cent.
About Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis affects millions of people. Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection and the cause of it is bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the lungs are mostly affected due to it.
As per the reports around 10 million people are affected by it and fall ill because of the disease. The disease can be cured and prevented. It causes around 1.5 million deaths every year.
Efforts taken
In India TB is a health concern. The government has brought forward various initiatives to eliminate TB by 2025 which is earlier than the SDG goal regarding TB. Looking for the symptoms and the early detection is an important step.
National Tuberculosis Elimination program: It is a government program that aims to reduce tuberculosis. To attain the ambitious target of getting rid of tuberculosis by 2025 in mission mode the National Strategic plan for TB elimination was introduced.
Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan: Launched in the year 2022 it is an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With an aim to end TB in 2025 which is 5 years earlier than the global targets the campaign was launched. It marked an important initiative towards community participation.
Ni-kshay mitras include co-operatives, NGOs, corporate, individual, elected representatives etc., and they can provide additional support to the patients who are on treatment who have given consent for support.
The additional support that can be given to patients include nutritional support, additional investigations for diagonsed patients, additional nutritional supplements and vocational support.
Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana: The scheme is for supporting patients, As per the scheme the patient gets a financial incentive of Rs.500 per month for the time period in which the patient is under treatment. It was launched in the year 2018. Recently there has been an increase in the nutritional support from Rs.500 per month to Rs.1000 per month for the whole period of treatment.
Conclusion
Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease. Early detection towards the problem and not ignoring the symptoms is important, The efforts put forward towards eliminating the disease are important. It should be taken care that more progress is achieved.
