At the end of 50 years of tuberculosis control activities, the disease remains a major health challenge in India. As per new estimates, the number of new cases every year has risen to 2.8 million and mortality is put at 4,80,000 each year. These figures may go up when the national TB prevalence survey is... Continue Reading →
Time India got serious about fighting TB
Pushed to a corner owing to lack of political will on the part of countries with a high burden of tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation has called for the first United Nations General Assembly session on the disease. The fight against TB cannot be won as long as the high-burden countries, particularly India which has... Continue Reading →
About 0.5 million TB patients approaching RNTCP centres are not treated
In 2013, India had about 2.7 million people with TB, which is 23 per cent of the global burden of TB. India also accounted for 27 per cent (760,000) of the world’s “missing” patients — those may not have received effective TB care or may have received potentially suboptimal TB care in India’s private sector.... Continue Reading →
Trials with antibiotics lead to TB diagnosis delay
Tuberculosis patients in India who seek care in the private sector face a delay of as long as two months before they are diagnosed correctly — if at all — according to systematic reviews of Indian studies. This becomes alarming as private sector accounts for almost half of the TB care delivered in India. A... Continue Reading →
India sets an example in subsidised TB diagnosis
There is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy TB scenario in India. Of the 12 high-burden countries where the private sector is a major player in providing health care, the Indian private sector offers the cheapest price for the WHO-approved Xpert MTB/RIF, a molecular test for diagnosing TB. India also has the highest number... Continue Reading →
‘India’s fight against TB lacks punch’
“TB is the leading infectious killer, yet countries still follow old and dangerous [TB diagnostic and treatment] polices,” MSF Access Campaign tweeted. In another tweet, MSF International said: “Outdated tuberculosis policies are risking further spread of drug-resistant TB.” These tweets came soon after the “Out of Step 2015” report on TB policies in 24 countries,... Continue Reading →
Chennai city’s new strategy to eliminate TB
Thanks to the Zero TB Cities project, if everything works to plan, Chennai may drastically reduce TB mortality, shrink the number of new cases annually and impact TB prevalence in the city in a matter of 3-5 years. Chennai has been chosen as one of two cities in the world where the Zero TB Cities... Continue Reading →
TB: India study confirms Xpert diagnostic test’s superiority
For the first time in India, the superiority of Xpert MTB/RIF over smear microscopy for bacteriological confirmation of pulmonary TB and in diagnosing MDR-TB (Multi Drug Resistant-TB) patients before initiating any treatment has been proved in a large-scale study undertaken in 2012-2013. Encouraging results The latest study, the largest in the world, found that using... Continue Reading →
TB treatment programme in India may be generating more MDR cases
The Joint Monitoring Mission 2015 has come down heavily on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for their inability to handle the MDR-TB crisis in the country. The report released last month reflects on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations made by it in 2012. Despite... Continue Reading →
