nIndia achieved 84 per cent reduction in tuberculosis (TB) deaths among people living with HIV by 2017 — three years ahead of the target, said a report by The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
A report released last week showed that India is among the five low or middle-income countries — Eritrea (83 per cent), Djibouti (78 per cent), Malawi (78 per cent) and Togo (75 per cent) — that achieved or exceeded the target of a 75 per cent reduction in TB deaths among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), by 2017, three years ahead of the 2020 target.
According to the World Health Organisation, globally, TB deaths among people living with HIV have fallen by 42 per cent since 2010, from 5,20,000 down to 3,00,000 in 2017.
“TB should be a disease of the past. It has been treatable and preventable for decades. Years of neglecting the rights of the world's poor to basic health care, food and shelter have let TB take hold and allowed resistance to build,” Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said in a statement.
TB is the top infectious killer worldwide, claiming around 4,400 lives a day.
It also remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, causing one in three AIDS-related deaths. In 2017, 1.6 million people died from TB, including around three lakh people living with HIV.
“People living with HIV are especially at risk. There is still a chance for many countries to meet the target, but we have to act now it's time to end TB and AIDS,” Sidibe said.
The report also showed that between 2010 and 2017, in around 40 countries the number of TB deaths among people living with HIV rose.
Integrating TB and HIV services, using community-based approaches to find, diagnose and treat the missing cases can help countries reduce the death rates, the UN health body suggested.
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary of India, Preeti Sudan at an event here stressed on the importance of more sensitive and responsive doctors, paramedics, frontline health workers and community partners, while dealing with TB patients.
According to the Ministry, India is now closest ever to covering all TB cases with 21.5 lakh new TB patients notified in 2018. “With the aim of universal access to free diagnostics and treatment services, path breaking policy changes have been introduced; universal drug susceptibility testing has been rolled out and shorter and newer treatment regimen has been expanded countrywide.
“India is moving towards an injection free regimen. Private sector engagement has been elevated as one of the highest priorities with strengthened regulatory measures, collaborative incentives and scale up of successful Patient Provider Support Agency (PPSA) interventions which led to a 35% increase in TB notification from the private sector. The Nikshay Poshan Yojana has benefited 15 lakh TB patients for nutrition support with Rs. 240 cores disbursed as DBT since April 2018,” said the Ministry in a statement.