• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda, announced several key initiatives aimed at enhancing nutrition support for tuberculosis (TB) patients and their household contacts.

• The government has approved an additional allocation of Rs 1,040 crore for nutritional support for TB patients under the Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana (NPY).

• All TB patients will now receive a nutritional support of Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 under Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana.

• While enhancement of NPY support will benefit all 25 lakh TB patients in a year, introduction of Energy Dense Nutritional Supplementation (EDNS) would cover approximately 12 lakh underweight patients (BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2 at the time of diagnosis). EDNS would be provided to all eligible patients for the first two months of their treatment.

• Till date, Rs 3,202 crore have been disbursed to 1.13 crore beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer under Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana.

• These initiatives are part of India’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to TB elimination. This expansion will also cover household contacts of TB patients under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, ensuring they receive necessary social support.

Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan

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

• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to accelerate the country’s progress towards TB elimination by 2025.

Objectives:

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

Expected outcomes of the initiative

i) This initiative will increase the active involvement of society in the fight against tuberculosis.

ii) This activity aims at increasing awareness among the public regarding tuberculosis.

iii) Involvement of the community in supporting the treatment cascade shall also help in the reduction of stigma.

iv) Provision of additional support to the TB patient shall also result in the reduction of the out-of-pocket expenditure for the family of the TB patient.

v) Ultimately improved nutrition for the TB patient shall result in better treatment outcomes.

TB situation in India

• India accounted for the highest number of TB cases in the world in 2022, representing 27 per cent of the global burden, according to WHO’s 2023 Global Tuberculosis Report.

• TB causes approximately 480,000 deaths annually in India, which equates to over 1,400 deaths each day.

• There are more than a million ‘missing’ TB cases each year in India — cases that go undiagnosed or unreported.  This highlights gaps in diagnosis and reporting, especially in the private healthcare sector.

• India aims to eliminate TB by 2025, which involves reducing incidence, improving case detection, and ensuring effective treatment to combat the disease.

• The country faces several challenges, including inadequate diagnosis and treatment, high mortality rates, and a significant number of unreported cases, which complicate efforts to control and eventually eradicate TB.

Indian govt’s initiatives to combat TB

• 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. It is a multi-pronged approach that 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.

• In September 2022, President Droupadi Murmu launched Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, to provide additional nutritional support to those on TB treatment, through contributions from community and organisations.

• Under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, more than one lakh Nikshay Mitras (donors) are supporting over 11 lakh TB patients all over the country presently. 

• As of now, Rs 3,202 crores have been disbursed to 1.13 crore beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer under the Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana. The introduction of this enhanced nutritional support is expected to improve treatment outcomes, aid recovery, and ultimately reduce TB-related mortality in India.

• Newer patient centric initiatives like Family Caregiver Model and Differentiated Care have been introduced to ensure further reduction in mortality and improvement in treatment success rates.

• In March 2023, Prime Minister Narendram Modi launched various initiatives, including the TB-Mukt Panchayat initiative to leverage the support of over 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats to raise awareness about TB.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)