World TB Day: India’s TB Notification Rate Increases After Several Cases Were Missed During The Pandemic

Celebrated on March 24 each year, the day is marked to discuss progress to end and eliminate TB by 2025.

The World Health Organisation's Global Report on TB said that most countries missed notifying the actual number of TB cases in 2020 as the pandemic wreaked havoc across health systems.

According to the report, India had missed notifying the highest number of cases in the pandemic year.

In the TB Annual Report released today, the number of notified TB cases increased by 19% between the two years. In 2021, the new and relapse notified cases stood at 19,33,381 while it was 16,28,161 in 2020

TB Prevalence ratio among all ages of population is noted to be 312 per 1 lakh members in the population. Childhood tuberculosis is another problem in India, with a prevalence rate of 31% in 2021.

Tuberculosis caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis affects the lungs and also other areas of the body including the brain and the heart.

TB can be diagnosed through sputum tests, blood and skin tests, X rays and CT scans.

There are also drug resistant forms of TB called multi-drug resistant TB and extremely drug resistant TB. As a means of prevention, children are given the BCG vaccine as children.