By Health In Five Writer
Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to eliminate TB in India by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG targets, Dr Bharati Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare said, “We have a mere 37 months before the deadline to end TB in the country. We need to shift gears and come up with innovative solutions to make up for the setbacks due to COVID-19 and move beyond.”
Highlighting the commitment of India towards eliminating TB at a session on Strategies for Ending TB by 2025, she said, “Despite the pandemic, we have managed to scale up access to free rapid molecular diagnostics and treatment. Financial and nutritional support to TB patients continued unabated. Efforts made by the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme led to significant improvements in time-to-diagnosis, treatment adherence and outcomes.”
TB preventive treatment has been prioritised under the pillar of “Prevent” in the National Strategic Plan to end TB. Scaling up TB Preventive Treatment and at the same time decentralising it to bring services closer to patients, are of utmost importance to break the chain of transmission and breakdown of those with TB infection into full-blown TB disease. TB has now been made an essential part of Comprehensive Primary Health Care and is integrated with Ayushman Bharat scheme. The nationwide TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan has been launched in this regard.
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