New Delhi: Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, virtually addressed the 37th Board Meeting of Stop TB Partnership, a collective force transforming the global fight against tuberculosis (TB). Hosted by UNOPS, the Stop TB Partnership aims to unite efforts to combat TB on a global scale.
In his address, Dr. Mandaviya acknowledged TB as a longstanding global health challenge and highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health services. Globally, there was an 8.7% reduction in TB incidence, with India achieving a notable 16% reduction, almost double the pace of the global average.
Dr. Mandaviya emphasized India’s commitment to ending TB by 2025 and shared the country’s efforts on the global stage, including advocating for digital solutions to improve health service effectiveness, enhancing pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capabilities, and addressing “One Health” and Anti-Microbial Resistance. He underscored India’s focus on prevention, saturating coverage in TB detection and treatment services, and the significant reduction in missing TB cases from 1 million in 2015 to 0.26 million in 2023.
The Union Health Minister highlighted the success of engaging the private sector, noting an over 8-fold increase in private sector notifications over the past 9 years, reaching 0.84 million patients in 2023, contributing 33% to total notifications.
Dr. Mandaviya emphasized the importance of people’s participation in the End-TB movement, citing the success of Jan Bhagidhari, a “Whole of Society Approach.” Initiatives like Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, the world’s largest crowd-sourcing initiative, and Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, which screened over 38 million individuals for TB, were highlighted.
The Union Health Minister also mentioned the ‘TB Mukt Panchayat’ initiative, securing over 5 million courses of TB preventive treatment drug (3HP), and providing TB services at the community level through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
Dr. Mandaviya concluded by urging global collaboration in creating large-scale preventive interventions, addressing social determinants, and emphasizing the urgent need to launch TB vaccination to achieve sustainable development goals targets for TB.