Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (November 3) said the decline in TB incidence is an outcome of India's dedicated and innovative efforts, and asserted that "we will keep working towards a TB-free India" through a collective spirit.
His remarks came in response to a post by Health Minister JP Nadda in which he stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognised India's "remarkable" progress, with a 17.7 per cent decline in TB incidence from 2015 to 2023- a rate more than double the global decline of 8.3 per cent.
In his post on X, Modi said, "Commendable progress! The decline in TB incidence is an outcome of India's dedicated and innovative efforts."
"Through a collective spirit, we will keep working towards a TB-free India," the prime minister said.
In his remarks on Saturday, Nadda said, "Under the visionary leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi ji, our government has expanded and strengthened the National TB Elimination Programme by taking key initiatives such as the Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana to provide essential nutritional support to TB patients, and introduction of the BPALM regimen, a novel treatment for Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis."
"I also acknowledge the tireless efforts of the Health Ministry's dedicated healthcare workers, whose unwavering commitment and hard work play a crucial role in this fight against tuberculosis," Nadda said.
Tuberculosis infected 8 million people last year, the most WHO has ever tracked
More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the UN health agency began keeping track.
About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world's top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023.
WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world's cases.
“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
TB deaths continue to fall globally, however, and the number of people being newly infected is beginning to stabilise. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half were diagnosed and treated.
Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long called for the US company Cepheid, which produces TB tests used in poorer countries, to make them available for USD 5 per test to increase availability. Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders and 150 global health partners sent Cepheid an open letter calling on them to “prioritise people's lives” and to urgently help make TB testing more widespread globally.
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