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February 6, 2024 — Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, virtually addressed the 37th Board Meeting of the Stop TB Partnership today. The Stop TB Partnership, hosted by UNOPS, stands as a collective force in transforming the global fight against Tuberculosis (TB).
In his address, Dr. Mandaviya underscored the longstanding challenge posed by TB on the global health front. He highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused significant disruptions, yet resulted in a notable reduction in TB incidence globally by 8.7%. Remarkably, India demonstrated an even more significant reduction of 16%, nearly doubling the pace.
Speaking on India’s commitment to ending TB by 2025, the Union Health Minister emphasized India’s advocacy efforts during its G20 Presidency. These efforts aimed at enhancing health services’ effectiveness and reach through digital solutions, strengthening pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capabilities, and addressing “One Health” and Anti-Microbial Resistance, all of which align closely with India’s and the world’s fight against TB.
Dr. Mandaviya outlined India’s strategy for the final push towards TB elimination, focusing on prevention while enhancing coverage of TB detection and treatment services. He noted a significant reduction in missing TB cases, dropping from 1 million in 2015 to 0.26 million in 2023.
Highlighting the role of the private sector, Dr. Mandaviya emphasized a remarkable increase in private sector notifications over the past nine years, with 0.84 million patients notified from the private sector in 2023, contributing to 33% of total notifications.
India’s success in fostering people’s participation in the End-TB movement was also emphasized, with Dr. Mandaviya praising the ‘Jan Bhagidhari’ approach, translating to people’s participation. Notable initiatives like the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, the world’s largest crowd-sourcing initiative, and the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra were highlighted as significant milestones in mobilizing community support against TB.
Furthermore, Dr. Mandaviya shed light on various initiatives and achievements, including the launch of the ‘TB Mukt Panchayat’ initiative, procurement of over 5 million courses of TB preventive treatment drug, 3HP, and the provision of TB services at the community level through over 1.6 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
Concluding his address, Dr. Mandaviya urged dignitaries to leverage collective knowledge and expertise to implement large-scale preventive interventions, including addressing social determinants, and emphasized the urgent need to launch TB vaccination to achieve Sustainable Development Goals targets for TB.
As India continues its robust efforts in combating TB, Dr. Mandaviya’s address signals a strong commitment towards achieving the ambitious goal of TB elimination by 2025.
