What is the issue?

• At the End TB Summit, 2018, the prime minister of India made a bold commitment to end tuberculosis by 2025, 5 years ahead of the global target.
• In this context, here is a look at the efforts currently underway and the way forward.

What implications does TB have?

• India still has the highest TB burden in the world.
• Despite the disease being fully curable, people still die from it.
• TB usually affects people in their most productive years and drives families into debt.
• It has a direct link to human suffering, discrimination and also poverty.
• Due to its infectious spread, it directly affects the country’s economic growth as well.

What should the approach be?

• The first step is the creation of awareness as though TB affects millions, a very few know enough about it.
• People should be empowered with the necessary information to identify and recognise TB symptoms, and seek diagnosis and treatment.
• There is thus a need for multilingual, multi-stakeholder awareness effort.
• The next step is ensuring that all are provided with access to correct diagnosis and treatment for TB, regardless of the ability to pay for it.
• This can only happen if the government works with the private sector as it did in the case of polio.
• Even today, about half a million TB cases go unnotified, especially those seeking care in the private sector.
• These missing cases should be tracked and ensured that those in need of care and treatment are able to access it.
• Agents need to go door to door, identify TB patients, and provide each of them care with compassion.

What are the challenges?

• A key challenge is building a forward-looking plan to address and control drug resistance.
• This is a man-made menace that is a major roadblock in the fight against TB.
• Every TB patient must be tested for drug resistance at the first point of care, whether in the public or private sector.
• Every patient who is diagnosed late and does not receive timely treatment continues to infect others.
• This cycle of transmission should be ended.

What are the measures in place?

• Efforts are already on to create more labs, point of care tests, an assured drug pipeline, access to new drugs, and counseling support for those affected.
• Recognising that medicines are not enough, the Nikshay Poshan Yojana was launched.
• Under this, TB patients receive Rs 500 every month while on treatment.
• This is to ensure that the patients have economic support and nutrition during the required period.
• On September 25, 2019, the ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign’ was launched to accelerate the efforts to end TB by 2025.
• By employing a “multi-sectoral and community-led” approach, the government aims at building a national movement to end TB by 2025.
• The government has accordingly increased resource allocation towards the TB Elimination Programme four-fold.

What should be done?

• The government machinery at the field level should work with communities and provide free diagnosis and treatment to every affected individual.
• There is also a need to look beyond treatment.
• The country should involve all to fight the disease and end the stigma surrounding it.
• Every patient should seek care that is free from discrimination and with dignity.
• The community must act as a source of support for the patient, which could be achieved through education and awareness.