<aside> ✋🏽 TB is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and it most often affects the lungs. It is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit. Two categories of TB: Pulmonary TB (affects lungs) and Extra Pulmonary TB (affects both lungs and other organs).

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Treatment for TB:

• Currently, the BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) vaccine is used among children at the time of birth.
• It was developed in 1921 in France to be used against Tuberculosis.
• In India, BCG vaccine was first introduced in 1948 and was then made a part of universal immunisation programme and administered to millions of children at birth or soon after it.

Steps taken:

• National Strategic Plan (NSP), 2017-2025: Under this, India is committed to eliminate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the target for TB set by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), 2030.
• National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP): To accelerate momentum towards eliminating TB in the country by 2025, NTEP has expanded both the laboratory network as well as diagnostic facilities to cover the entire country. Earlier was known as Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP).
• NIKSHAY Portal: It is the National TB information system, manage info and patient history. It provides a National Data repository of TB information for advanced analytics.
• NIKSHAY Poshan Yojana (NPY): India’s NSP provides direct benefit transfer (DBT) for all TB patients in order to support their nutrition needs and help address the financial burden of tuberculosis for the affected households.
• Scheme is financed by the Government of India, with partial financing provided through World Bank.
• It is launched by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• TB Free India Campaign has been launched by the Indian Prime Minister to eliminate Tuberculosis in India by 2025.

Global commitments and efforts taken to eliminate TB

• Moscow Declaration, 2017: It is commitment to increase multisector action and enhance accountability in the global TB response towards ending TB by 2030
• WHO End TB Strategy: It serves as a blueprint for countries to reduce TB incidence by 80%, TB deaths by 90%, and to eliminate catastrophic costs for TB-affected households by 2030.
• Find. Treat. All. #EndTB: It is the joint Initiative of WHO, Stop TB Partnership, and Global Fund to diagnose treat and report 40 million people with TB, including 3.5 million children and 1.5 million people with Drug ResistantTB.