However, it seems inevitable that the world will fall short of its goal of a 50% decrease in the disease’s occurrence by 2025. TB continues to be the second most common infectious agent-related cause of mortality worldwide. In 2022, there were 7.5 million new cases of the disease reported worldwide. Since the WHO started tracking tuberculosis globally in 1995, this is the highest number. India is home to 27% of the world’s tuberculosis cases, which is a decrease of 1% from the previous year’s 28%. The nation’s track record in managing the illness is likewise not entirely consistent.
Source: World Health Organization(WHO)
In 2022, over 28 lakh new cases of tuberculosis were reported in India, meaning that one person was diagnosed with the disease every 11 seconds. However, for the past eight years, there has been a consistent decline in both the disease’s incidence and death. More cases are being reported, and diagnosis accuracy has increased. As a result, there is now less chance of the illness spreading from infected but undiagnosed people.
India’s proportion of world mortality decreased from 36% in the past to 26% in 2022 as a result of its TB mortality, which fell from 4.94 lakh in 2021 to 3.31 lakh in 2022. Out of the thirty high-burden countries, India was one of just four that achieved more than 80% treatment coverage. The nation’s treatment coverage grew by 19%.
Source: Drishti IAS
TB is more than just a health problem. Because more members of the lower social strata of society are affected than others, there are social and economic aspects to the challenges associated with the disease’s identification, occurrence, and treatment. Despite state backing for the treatment, many patients discontinue it before they fully recover. This frequently makes the illness worse.
The disease’s multidrug resistance (MDR) form presents yet another significant obstacle. Only half of the 1,19,000 new MDR cases that are discovered in India each year are reported, according to the WHO. MDR cases are very challenging to treat. The nation’s testing procedures still use outdated techniques, which need to be updated in order to produce more accurate and consistent results. Although there has been some progress in combating tuberculosis, much more work still needs to be done. The nation will definitely fall short of its 2025 goal of eradicating tuberculosis.
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