In News: The President of India virtually launched the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.
TB in India
India has a little less than 20 percent of the world’s population, but has more than 25 percent of the total TB patients of the world.
Every day 1,200 Indians die of TB — 10 every three minutes.
According to Health Ministry data, only 63% of the patients infected with the airborne disease are currently under treatment.
Further, 1,47,000 patients are resistant to first- and second-line TB medicines.
Elimination of TB
According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, all nations have set the goal of eradicating TB by the year 2030. But the Government of India has set the target of eradicating TB by the year 2025.
At the current rate of progress, global targets to eliminate TB by 2030 will be missed by a 150 years.
What is TB?
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, belonging to the Mycobacteriaceae family consisting of about 200 members.
In humans, TB most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB), but it can also affect other organs (extra-pulmonary TB).
TB is a treatable and curable disease.
Infection:
Infection occurs when TB bacilli are inhaled.
Bacilli may stay in the lungs or travel to other organs.
Infection is lifelong, with bacilli lying dormant.
This phase is “latent TB”, diagnosed by a tuberculin skin test (TST).
The “annual rate of TB infection” (ARTI) is about 1%. Cumulatively, 40% to 70% of us are living with latent TB.
From this reservoir pool, a few progress to TB disease, one by one, 5-30 years, average 20 years, later.
Transmission: TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air.
Common symptoms of active lung TB are cough with sputum and blood at times, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats.
Eight countries accounted for two thirds of the new TB cases: India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.
MultiDrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB)is a strain of TB that cannot be treated even with the two most powerful first-line treatment anti-TB drugs.
Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB)is a form of TB caused by bacteria that are resistant to several of the most effective anti-TB drugs.
Vaccine used against TB: Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine (BCG) Vaccine
Initiatives by India
Eliminating TB by 2025:
India is committed to eliminating tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030.
National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme:
To align with the ambitious goal, the programme has been renamed from the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) to National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP).
Addressing all co-morbidities and goes beyond medical interventions to tackle the social determinants of TB while minimizing access barriers to diagnosis and treatment.
Through the Nikshay Poshan Yojana, nutritional support is extended to all TB patients for the entire duration of their treatment.
Rigorously working towards Airborne Infection Control in hospital wards and outpatient waiting areas.
Introduction of Cartridge-Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT):
It is a revolutionary rapid molecular test which simultaneously detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin drug resistance.
This test is fully automated and provides results within two hours.
It is a highly sensitive diagnostic tool and can be used in remote and rural areas without sophisticated infrastructure or specialised training.
How to eradicate TB from the society?
Spread Awareness about the Results from Treatment
People have to be informed that prevention of this disease is possible.
Its treatment is effective and accessible.
The government provides free-of-cost facilities for prevention and treatment of this disease
Eradicate the Stigma attached with the Disease
Equipping the patients with vocational skills to help them join the workforce and live a prosperous and productive life.
The governments, pharma / biotech companies, and foundations must increase investment in TB research, at least to the levels laid out in the UN High Level Meeting Report and make TB a central element in global pandemic response strategies.
Include Private Sector in this fight.
The private sector has a very crucial role to play in checking the rise of TB as it is the first place a patient from an urban area visits. We need to make them a partner in this fight.
Advances in TB diagnostics, treatments and prevention need to be pursued and scaled up with the urgency they deserve. If we do not behave like TB is a global health emergency, we will continue to experience unacceptable suffering from a disease that has killed more than 20 million people in this century alone.
Note:
Stop TB Partnership Board
Established: 2000
Objective: To eliminate Tuberculosis as a public health problem.
The organization was conceived following the meeting of the First Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Tuberculosis Epidemic held in London in March 1998.
In 1998, through the Amsterdam Declaration, it gave a call for collaborative action from 20 countries that bear the highest burden of TB.
It has 1500 partner organization
Secretariat: Geneva, Switzerland.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has been appointed Chairman of the Stop TB Partnership Board. The Minister will serve a three year term, commencing July 2021.
