India concedes high priority for ending tuberculosis by 2025. The country aims to end tuberculosis five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This statement is given by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan.
According to Harsh Vardhan, under the guidance of Narendra Modi, India will concede high priority for ending tuberculosis by 2025. This will be 5 years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Harsh Vardhan was addressing ministers of Members Nations of WHO, Heads of Representatives of UN Agencies, and partner organizations.
Tuberculosis is in existence since ancient times in India. It also continues to remain a major global public health problem. Despite several signs of progress over the last decade, Tuberculosis still remains the leading infectious killer disease worldwide.
As per Harsh Vardhan, India has taken several critical steps towards ending tuberculosis. The country has taken several bold and innovative policies including proportional resources.
There is a significant reduction in the number of missing tuberculosis patients from one million in 2016 to less than 0.5 million in 2019. There is also an increase in rapid molecular diagnostics in every country of the country. The government was able to identify over 66,000 drug-resistant tuberculosis patients in 2019.
Harsh Vardhan also pointed out that poverty is a powerful determinant of tuberculosis. However, undernutrition is also an important risk factor in developing active tuberculosis diseases.
To address this, the government is providing cash incentives through Direct Benefit Transfers for nutritional support. Since April 2018, the government has distributed Rs. 7.9 billion to over 3 million beneficiaries.
To lighten the impact, the government has been issuing constant advisories to the states to ensure the merging of tuberculosis findings with COVID-19 efforts. The government has initiated bi-directional screening among tuberculosis and COVID-19 patients.
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