End TB Strategy

13-Mar-2018: End TB Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 'Delhi End TB Summit'. He also launched the TB Free India Campaign.

The global target for eliminating TB is 2030, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the target for India to eliminate TB is 2025, five years before the global target. He further stated that TB mainly affects poorest of the poor and every step taken towards the elimination of this disease is a step towards improving the lives of the poor.

State governments play a very important role in elimination of TB and were already requested to join in this mission. The frontline workers also play a crucial role in TB elimination along with the people who have demonstrated great courage in defeating this disease.

To achieve 'End TB' targets, the Government has rolled out new `National Strategic Plan (NSP) to end TB by 2025` which has been appreciated by the global community as a model plan for combating Tuberculosis. Government is starting a new scheme for nutritional support, expanding public-private partnership models and aligning strategies to follow the similar success achieved in HIV /AIDS. Information Technology (IT) tools are being used for monitoring the programme and treatment adherence. Community engagement is the hallmark and it is becoming a social movement to End TB in India.

To reduce out of pocket expenditure for poor, the Government has started Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) pharmacies across the country and have made stents and knee replacement affordable for the common man.

TB is the leading infectious killer in India. There were an estimated 28 lakh new cases of TB in 2016, with over 4 lakh people succumbing to the disease, including those with TB and HIV. The new NSP adopts a multi-pronged approach which aims to ‘Detect’ all TB patients with an emphasis on reaching TB patients seeking care from private providers and undiagnosed TB in high-risk populations, ‘Treat’ all patient irrespective of where they seek care adopting a patient centric approach, ‘Prevent’ emergence of TB in susceptible population groups and ‘Build’ empowered institutions and human resources to streamline implementation.

India is also implementing the National Strategic Plan for TB elimination that is backed by a historic funding of over 12,000 crore rupees for the next three years to ensure every TB patient has access to quality diagnosis, treatment, and support. The Prime Minister’s vision to end TB by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG’s has galvanized the efforts of the Revised National Tuberculosis Programme, which has treated over 2 Crore patients since its inception.

13-Mar-2018: End TB Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 'Delhi End TB Summit'. He also launched the TB Free India Campaign.

2017

16-Nov-2017: 1st WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Sustainable Development Era

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, reaffirmed India’s commitment to eliminating TB by 2025 at 1st WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in Sustainable Development Era’ at Moscow, Russia. The Ministerial and High-Level meetings offer participating nations the potential to strengthen and energize the discourse on TB and are perhaps the biggest window for global action on TB in the foreseeable future. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is also organizing a side event at the conference on ‘Ending TB: Our Promise to Our People’ assisted by Global Coalition against TB to be attended by 7 MPs and other world leaders.

India has ended polio and will use a similar intensified effort to end TB also. The National Strategic Plan for TB elimination in India has essentially four pillars to address the major challenges for TB control, namely- “Detect, Treat, Build and Prevent”. “This plan requires a significant increase in the budget compared to previous NSP and this plan is fully funded and most of this is through domestic resources.

The Union Health Minister pointed out that since the major challenges for TB control in India are many; the government’s first priority is reaching the unreached. The government will ensure access to care for some vulnerable populations such as tribes, people in urban slums etc. Early diagnosis of all patients and putting them on the right treatment and ensuring their complete treatment is crucial.

Indian government has given top priority to addressing the quality of care for patients. 25% of the budget is earmarked for direct interventions in this area. This include free diagnosis with rapid molecular tests, free treatment with best quality drugs and regimens, financial and nutritional support to patients, online TB notification systems, mobile technology based adherence monitoring system, interphase agencies for better private sector engagements, policy for transparent service purchase schemes, stronger community engagements, communication campaigns, regulatory systems to capture information on all those consuming anti-TB drugs etc.

To provide access to patients in difficult to reach areas, both socially and geographically, the government has started active TB case finding campaigns in selected areas. Government has already completed two such campaigns covering 257 districts and screened over 30 million vulnerable persons and detected over 15,000 additional TB cases. The next campaign will be planned in December this year and we will be mounting interventions for TB in urban slum areas through the urban health mission.

India is a major manufacturer of anti-TB drugs for the world having almost an 80% global market share. The top thematic priorities of this conference based on the SDGs and the UNGA high level health themes include Universal Health Coverage, Increased and Sustainable Financing and Scientific Research and Innovation.