By the time you finish reading this story, somewhere in India, four people would’ve succumbed to tuberculosis.
The World Health Organisation’s Global TB Report 2016 brings the spotlight back on the enormity of the tuberculosis (TB) burden of India and how critically daunting the challenge is going to be.
In a nutshell:
- In 2015, 2.8 million people were diagnosed with TB in India. That’s the highest for a single country in the world and nearly one-third of the global tuberculosis burden.
- In 2015, the number of TB deaths in the country doubled from 2.2 lakhs (in 2014) to a whopping 4.8 lakhs.
- India reported only 56 percent of its TB burden in 2014 and 59 percent in 2015.
- The massive under-reporting by India means that the scourge of this deadly disease is much more serious than previously thought.
Behind closed doors, the Union government has somewhat realised the enormity of the situation. It has called a two-day national level meeting of experts from around the country in the National Capital on 18 and 19 October to overhaul and rejuvenate its end-TB campaign.