• President Droupadi Murmu virtually launched the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan. The President urged citizens to work collectively towards the elimination of TB from the country by 2025 on a war footing.

• The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has been envisioned to bring together all community stakeholders to support those on TB treatment and accelerate the country’s progress towards TB elimination.

• While India has a little less than 20 per cent of the world's population, it has more than 25 per cent of the total TB patients of the world.

• The ‘Nikshay 2.0’ portal will facilitate in providing additional patient support to improve treatment outcomes of TB patients, augmenting community involvement in meeting India's commitment to end TB by 2025 and leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) opportunities.  

• The President also launched the ‘Nikshay Mitra’ initiative to ensure additional diagnostic, nutritional, and vocational support to those on TB treatment, and encouraged elected representatives, corporates, NGOs, and individuals to come forward as donors to help the patients complete their journey towards recovery.

Objectives of the initiative

i) Provide additional patient support to improve treatment outcomes of TB patients.

ii) Augment community involvement in meeting India’s commitment to end TB by 2025.

iii) Leverage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.

Key facts:

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease that is a major cause of ill health, one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent (ranking above HIV/AIDS). 

• TB is caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is spread when people who are sick with TB expel bacteria into the air, for example, by coughing. 

• The disease typically affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect other sites (extrapulmonary TB). 

• Most people (about 90 per cent) who develop the disease are adults, with more cases among men than women. About a quarter of the world’s population has been infected with M. tuberculosis. 

• TB is curable and preventable. About 85 per cent of people who develop TB disease can be successfully treated with a 6-month drug regimen and regimens of 1–6 months can be used to treat TB infection. Universal health coverage (UHC) is necessary to ensure that all those with disease or infection can access these treatments. 

• According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all nations have set the goal of eradicating TB by the year 2030. The government of India has set the target of eradicating TB by the year 2025 and efforts are being made at every level to fulfil this resolution.  

Scenario in India

• India has the world’s highest tuberculosis (TB) burden, with an estimated 26 lakh people contracting the disease and approximately 4 lakh people dying from the disease every year. The economic burden of TB in terms of loss of lives, income and workdays is also substantial. TB usually affects the most economically productive age group of society resulting in a significant loss of working days and pushing TB patients further into the vortex of poverty.

• As per the Global TB Report 2021, the estimated incidence of all forms of TB in India for the year 2020 was 188 per 100,000 population. The total number of incident TB patients notified during 2021 was 19,33,381 which was 19 per cent higher than that of 2020 (16,28,161).

• The National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination (2017-25) was approved on May 8, 2017 and is being implemented in the entire country with the goal of Ending TB by 2025.

• Nikshay Poshan Yojana has been implemented from April 1, 2018. The government of India has committed Rs 600 crore for the provision of nutritional support of Rs 500 per month as Nikshay Poshan Yojana to all TB patients through direct benefit transfer. Nearly 38 lakh beneficiaries have been paid incentives totalling more than Rs 553 crore till December 2019. 

• The health ministry has established an inter-ministerial coordination committee with representation from 18 ministries including ministry of tribal affairs, ministry of women and child development, ministry of social justice & empowerment and ministry of labour & employment, etc for smooth linkages between the TB programme and various ministries.

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