India TB Report-2024: 16 percent decline in new cases since 2015

New Delhi: India has witnessed a 16 per cent decline in Tuberculosis (TB) incidence (new cases emerging each year) and an 18 per cent reduction in mortality due to the disease since 2015, according to the annual India TB report.

A significant rise in tuberculosis (TB) cases, with over 25.55 lakh cases notified in the previous year, marking the highest ever since the inception of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) in the 1960s, as per a government report. Notably, nearly 32 per cent of these notified cases emanated from the private healthcare sector. 

According to the India TB report for the year 2024, a staggering 8.4 lakh TB cases were reported from the private sector alone, reflecting a notable 17 percent increase from the figures recorded in 2022. This surge in private sector cases underscores the growing contribution of private healthcare facilities in TB case detection. 

"The country continued the consistent trend of improvement in case finding in 2023, as demonstrated by the notification of 25.55 lakh TB cases and a total Annualised TB case notification rate (ACNR) of 178.8 per lakh population which is the highest ever achieved by India," the India TB report 2024 said.  

ACNR is the number of TB cases notified per lakh population on an annual basis. 

India's robust healthcare infrastructure has facilitated impressive treatment coverage, with over 80 per cent of estimated TB cases receiving treatment, positioning the country favourably among high-burden TB nations.

However, the report also underscores challenges, including estimates of catastrophic health expenditures affecting 15 per cent or more of the population since 2000.

Estimates of the percentage of the population facing catastrophic health expenditures were greater than or equal to 15 per cent of the population for India, showing an upward trend since 2000, the report said.

"The treatment coverage had improved to 80 per cent of the estimated TB cases, an increase of 19 per cent over the previous year," the report said.

According to PTI, "In 2024, a key indicator case notifications reached a record number: over 25.5 lakh cases were reported, thereby closing the gap between the estimated and reported cases this gap in numbers was more than 10 lakhs in 2015 and we have managed to close this gap to less than 3 lakh by 2023," the health ministry said.

Uttar Pradesh emerged as the state with the highest number of TB notifications, closely followed by Bihar, signaling the need for intensified efforts in these regions.

In 2023, more than 20.5 crore individuals underwent screening for TB symptoms as a part of active case-finding efforts. Of those screened, 1.1 per cent (21.8 lakh) were examined and tested for TB and 35,438 cases (1.6 per cent out of those tested) were diagnosed.

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