India has recorded a 17.7 per cent decline in tuberculosis incidence from 237 per lakh population in 2015 to 195 in 2023, which is more than double the global decline of 8.3 per cent, Health Ministry sources have said citing a WHO report.
In its Global TB Report 2024 released on October 29, WHO has acknowledged the tremendous progress India has made in closing the gap of missed tuberculosis cases since 2015, the sources said.
“In 2023, India is estimated to have had 27 lakh TB cases, of which 25.1 lakh were diagnosed and put on treatment. This has buoyed India’s treatment coverage to 89 per cent in 2023 from 72 per cent in 2015, thereby bridging the gap of missing cases,” an official source said.
The source said WHO has “acknowledged a drop in India’s tuberculosis incidence from 237 per lakh population in 2015, to 195 per lakh population in 2023 accounting for a 17.7 per cent decline.
“This is more than double the pace of decline as compared to the global decline of 8.3 per cent,” the source said.
The Health Ministry sources asserted that the leap in coverage has been due to the momentum India has created around tuberculosis case finding and reflects the efforts of decentralisation of healthcare services through over 1.7 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in the country.
While WHO had downsized its estimation of tuberculosis mortality in India last year, the current report documents the sustained reduction in deaths due to the disease achieved by India from 28 per lakh population to 22 per lakh population, a 21.4 per cent decline, they said.