On the lines of its anti-polio drive, the health ministry has launched a 15-day door-to-door campaign across the country for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis to eliminate the disease. Under the campaign, health department workers, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and TB supervisors will make door-to-door visits to find TB patients and give them free medical treatment till they are cured, said Dr Sunil Khaparde, Deputy Director General (TB), Health Ministry.
According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 2.8 million cases of TB occur in India every year, out of which 1.7 million cases are reported. Under the third phase of the Revised National TB Control Programme, the centre in collaboration with the states have identified 186 high-risk districts. The phase is called Active Case Finding (ACF).
In a bid to achieve the goal of eliminating tuberculosis (TB) by 2025, the ministry recently rolled out the daily drug regimen to combat the disease across the country. Under the new treatment policy, patients are being given fixed drug combinations (FDCs), three or four drugs in a single pill, on a daily basis instead of thrice a week (the intermittent drug regimen).
According to the health ministry data, the TB incidence was estimated to be 217 per lakh population in 2015 which reduced to 211 per lakh population in 2016. Despite the reduction, India topped the list of seven countries, accounting for 64 per cent of the 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide in 2016, according to a new global report which was released by the WHO recently.