BENGALURU: The India Tuberculosis Report for 2023, released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently, showed that Karnataka’s largest share of notified cases come from individuals diagnosed with comorbidity – HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).
A total of 1,77,983 such cases were reported in the state in 2022-2023. Currently, there are 77,153 TB patients with known HIV status. Other factors contributing to the highly contagious TB disease is the use of tobacco and alcohol. A total of 69,702 individuals with TB were using tobacco or smoking and 68,902 with alcohol addiction. Other risk factors such as undernutrition and diabetes also impact a person with TB in predisposition and severity.
The report also highlighted that 69,836 new cases were notified and are currently under treatment. A large fraction of bacterial infection was found in men (50,058) compared to females (29,053) and 30 cases in transgenders. Karnataka is also one of the few states in the country to achieve its target of screening High-Risk Group (HRG). A total of 7,03,636 were screened in the state.
According to the report, under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTED), several initiatives have been taken to reduce the caseload. A number of awareness campaigns, including counselling, de-addiction centres and social support are being offered to people struggling with alcoholism and tobacco use.
Another contributing factor to TB is poverty. “Poverty is both a risk factor and a consequence of TB. The disease disproportionately affects households with low socio-economic status causing a financial burden,” the report said and advocated for a TB patient cost survey and to record the impact on families and households at the national and state levels. “This will aid in tracking the progress towards achieving better policymaking for the affected in the lower-income groups. The country aims to eradicate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030,” it stated.
Experts recommend scaling up of AI-enabled portable and handheld X-ray units for screening during active case finding and intensifying the effort to track vulnerable groups.