The Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organised a national consultative workshop on 29 and 30 October 2021 to facilitate states and union territories (UTs) to draw up their State Strategic Plans for Ending Tuberculosis (TB) in the country by 2025.
The objective of the workshop was to develop thematic area-wise interventions with broad operational targets for each state and UT and to align and refine the existing strategic plans of states/UTs by working backwards from the End TB goal of 2025.
State tuberculosis officers, officials from the state training and demonstration centers, WHO national professional officers, consultants, and partners held deliberations to develop an objective framework of activities
and arrive at roadmaps for each state to achieve the elimination target.
Among the key areas of focus were presumptive TB examination rate; TB notification from public and private sector; TB preventive treatment; differentiated TB care; treatment adherence and successful completion; drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB); communication, and social mobilization; TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan; community engagement, partnerships, and multi-sectoral engagement; and interventions to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure.
This involved aligning the state plans with the National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination (2020-25) and identifying gaps in service delivery and areas that need strengthening to accelerate the delivery of TB care services in the country. Best practices were also shared by some states.
“It is commendable how our states have come together to plan strategies for meeting the deadline of 2025 and realising the dream of ending TB. India has demonstrated the power of its people coming together for a common cause during the COVID pandemic. Even in trying times, citizens have ensured that no neighbour goes hungry. It is this very spirit we need to harness for TB. Ending TB will be a breeze when communities decide to defeat TB once and for all,” said Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers.
In 2018, Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi had envisioned ending TB in India by 2025, five years ahead of the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 2030.
To achieve this objective, the WHO India’s TB Technical Support Network has been providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in planning, capacity building, supervision, monitoring, evaluation, and promoting research for policy development for National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme. This Technical Support Network provides techno-managerial assistance by accelerating policy uptake and halving the time for implementation at the field level to end TB in India.
“India has played a critical role in vigorously adopting novel strategies and expanding its diagnostic capacities, active case finding efforts, digital technologies, TB preventive treatment, shorter and simpler
regimens, nutritional benefits for patients, etc. India’s TB programme is going beyond medical interventions to address the social determinants of TB and create an enabling environment for TB control. These will help minimise access barriers
to diagnosis and treatment,” said WHO Representative to India Dr Roderico H. Ofrin.
To reach the goal of a TB Mukt Bharat (TB-free India), WHO India is preparing to implement Project GATIMAN to augment technical assistance in the areas of public private partnership, TB surveillance, knowledge management, implementation research, drug-resistant TB, laboratories, TB infection management, and advocacy and communications across states and UTs. Additionally, WHO India has identified and adopted 100 aspirational, difficult-to-reach, and neglected districts for ending TB.
“TB continues to be a critical national priority and India is firmly and steadily taking steps to End TB by 2025. I am confident that our Project GATIMAN will provide the much-needed impetus to actions on ground in the states and accelerate TB elimination efforts across the country,” said Dr Ofrin.