World Tuberculosis Report 2022

On 27th October, 2022, the World Health Organization released its 2022 version of Global tuberculosis (TB) report. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic, and of progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, at global, regional and country levels. Major highlights of the report include:

Burden of TB: TB is the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 and the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. It is also the leading killer of people with HIV and a major cause of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance.

Increase in Cases: An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5% from 2020 and 1.6 million people died from TB (including 1,87,000 among HIV positive people).

Country-wise Assessment: With 28% cases, India was among the eight countries accounting for more than two-third (or 68.3%) of the total TB patients’ count. The other countries were Indonesia (9.2% cases), China (7.4%), the Philippines (7%), Pakistan (5.8%), Nigeria (4.4%), Bangladesh (3.6%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.9%).

India’s Efforts

Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan

  • It was launched in September 2022 to provide additional nutritional support to people on TB treatment, through contributions from community including individuals and organisations.

Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana

  • The scheme involves cash transfers of Rs. 500 every month to TB patients through a Direct Benefit Transfer program.
  • People from all financial background can benefit from the scheme, which is available for the duration of treatment.

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