While India accounts for 26% of TB cases in the world, the TB notifications during the period January-June 2020 in India reduced by 25% compared to the same period in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic combined with impacts on care-seeking behaviour threatens to reverse recent progress in reducing the global burden of TB disease, the World … Continue reading Pandemic causes 25% dip in TB notifications in India
TB notification
Majority of MDR-TB cases in India due to direct transmission: Lancet
While India has set a highly ambitious target of “eliminating TB by 2025”, modelling studies published today say incidence and mortality will reduce by just 57% and 72% respectively by 2035. Ten percent of people with TB die or self-cure before presenting for care. Patient delay before first presentation for care is 4.1 months. Majority … Continue reading Majority of MDR-TB cases in India due to direct transmission: Lancet
A glimmer of hope as India’s war on TB gets more funding
There is a glimmer of hope with India registering a slight drop in the number of new tuberculosis cases and TB deaths in 2016 compared with 2015. From an estimated 2.84 million new cases in 2015, the number dropped marginally to 2.79 million in 2016, according to the World Health Organisation’s Global tuberculosis report, 2017. … Continue reading A glimmer of hope as India’s war on TB gets more funding
Without a magic wand, India cannot eliminate TB by 2025
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 Without a magic wand, India cannot eliminate TB by 2025
Indian private sector bears 2-3 times higher TB burden than estimated
A study has found that in 2014 there were 2.2 million TB patients treated in India’s private sector alone. This is 2-3 times higher than current estimates. In all probability, the higher TB burden in the private sector might still be an underestimation as drug-resistant TB cases were not taken into account. Thus, the private … Continue reading Indian private sector bears 2-3 times higher TB burden than estimated
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 TB treatment programme in India may be generating more MDR cases
One million TB cases in children annually
One million children aged below 15 years are annually diseased with tuberculosis across the world, notes a study published a few days ago in The Lancet . The new estimates are twice the number of children thought to have tuberculosis in 2010 and thrice the number of children who were actually diagnosed that year. The … Continue reading One million TB cases in children annually
Editorial: Missing TB cases in India
Although tuberculosis killed 1.3 million people across the globe in 2012 and nearly 8.6 million developed the disease, the world is on track to reach some important targets of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. According to WHO’s global tuberculosis report 2013 released recently, the incidence rate has been falling, and the mortality rate since 1990 … Continue reading Editorial: Missing TB cases in India
India’s tuberculosis challenge
Published in The Hindu on October 21, 2012 Tuberculosis was declared a global health emergency in 1993, but it has been growing unchecked. Today, TB is causing millions of deaths every year globally. Like any infectious disease, TB is prevalent even in developed countries. But it is a more serious problem in the developing and … Continue reading India’s tuberculosis challenge
Editorial: No room for haste
Published in The Hindu on October 2, 2012 The past year has witnessed unprecedented official efforts to rein in the growing tuberculosis epidemic. In 2011 alone, 1.2 million new TB cases were reported while 60,000 patients already inflicted died. In reality, the real incidence, most likely was much higher — the number of new cases … Continue reading Editorial: No room for haste
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