NEW DELHI: India has seen a decline of 16 per cent in tuberculosis incidence from 2015 to 2022, higher than the global decline of nine per cent, according to the annual India TB report.
Also, as many as 25.55 lakh cases of TB were notified last year, the highest since the launch of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) in the 1960s, the National TB Elimination Programme, India TB Report 2024, said.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of notifications compared to the previous year. UP was followed by Bihar.
Of the total notified cases, over 8.4 lakhs were from the private sector, 1.17 per cent increase from 2022 and an exponential rise since 2017.
India’s treatment coverage also improved to 80% of the estimated TB cases, an increase of 19% over the previous year.
The report said that TB mortality was 23 per lakh population, with 18 per cent decline compared to 2015, which was 28 per lakh population.
“India’s efforts to ensure early detection and treatment initiation, along with a host of community engagement efforts, has resulted in a decline of 16% in TB incidence (new cases emerging each year) and an 18% reduction in mortality due to TB, since 2015,” the report said.
“The year 2023 witnessed a significant increase in TB case notifications, achieving a case notification rate of approximately 179 cases per lakh population, thereby narrowing the coverage to 0.2 million,” it added.
“This milestone was complemented by a surge in private TB case notifications, reflecting enhanced case-finding efforts. Moreover, the programme diagnosed 63,939 cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), highlighting the programme’s commitment to addressing drug resistance,” the report further said.
“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 report added.
ACNR is the number of TB cases notified per lakh population annually.
In the private sector, the Case Notification Rate (CNR) was 59.2 cases per lakh population, the highest achieved under the programme.
In 2023, more than 20.5 crore individuals were screened for signs and symptoms suggestive of TB as a part of active case-finding efforts.
Of the screened, 1.1% (21.8 lakhs) were examined and tested for TB diagnosis, and 35,438 TB cases (1.6% out of those tested) were diagnosed.
In 2023, out of the total TB cases notified, 60.7% were men, 39.2% women, and 0.04% transgender
The report said that TB and HIV are two major public health problems globally, particularly in India.
People living with HIV (PLHIV) have up to 20 times higher risk of developing active TB as compared to those without HIV infection.
TB is the leading cause of death among PLHIV worldwide. These two diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases.
The total number of TB-HIV co-infected cases for the year January-December 2023 is 34,476, and out of this, 32,508 (94%) and 32,641 (95%) were started on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and Co-trimoxazole Prophylaxis Therapy (CPT) drugs respectively.
India aims to eliminate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 2030.
With 28 per cent of cases, India was among the eight countries accounting for more than two-thirds (or 68.3 percent) of the total TB patients’ count, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.