TB incidence in India down by 21 pc, almost double the rate of decline globally

New Delhi, Nov 13 (IANS) In a significant development, TB incidence (new cases emerging each year) in India has been reduced by 21 per cent – from 237 per lakh population in 2015 to 187 per lakh population in 2024, according to the government.

This is almost double the pace of the decline observed globally at 12 per cent, as per the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ‘Global TB Report 2025’.

According to Health Ministry, India’s innovative case finding approach, driven by the swift uptake of newer technologies, decentralisation of services and large scale community mobilisation, has led to the country’s treatment coverage to surge to over 92 per cent in 2024, from 53 per cent in 2015 – with 26.18 lakh TB patients being diagnosed in 2024, out of an estimated incidence of 27 lakh cases.

This has helped reduce the number of “missing cases” – those who had TB but were not reported to the programme – from an estimated 15 lakhs in 2015 to less than one lakh in 2024.

Moreover, there is no significant increase in the number of MDR TB patients in the country. Treatment success rate under the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan increases to 90 per cent, ahead of global treatment success rate of 88 per cent.

Also, India’s TB mortality rate has decreased from 28 per lakh population in 2015 to 21 per lakh population in 2024, reflecting significant progress in reducing deaths due to TB.

This progress has been achieved through strong government commitment evidenced by a historic near-ten-fold increase in government funding to the TB programme over last 09 years.

Since its launch in December 2024, India’s flagship TB elimination mission, the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan has achieved extensive reach, screening over 19 crore vulnerable individuals for TB across the country leading to the detection of over 24.5 lakh TB patients, including 8.61 lakh asymptomatic TB cases.

This proactive approach draws on both global and local evidence underscoring the prevalence of asymptomatic (sub-clinical) TB in high-burden settings.

The Ministry has also expanded nutritional support provided to TB patients. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (NPY) was increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per month per patient for the entire treatment duration.

Since its launch in April 2018, Rs 4,406 crore have been disbursed directly into the bank accounts of 1.37crore beneficiaries. Furthermore, to date, 6,77,541 individuals and organisations have enrolled as Ni-kshay Mitras and distributed over 45 lakh food baskets to TB patients, reflecting a strong and growing public-private-community partnership in India’s fight against TB.