India has become the first country in the world to estimate the tuberculosis (TB) burden in-country and launch its own mathematical system to estimate the disease burden.
It has opted to step away from the global estimates drawn up each year by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Health Ministry noted that as per this data, the global TB reduction numbers stand at 11% while the reduction in TB cases in India is 18%.
“This model was constructed based on the natural history of diseases, individual status of infection, disease, health care seeking, missed or correct diagnosis, treatment coverage and outcomes including cure and death,’’ said a senior Health Ministry official.
The Ministry added that India’s TB incidence rate stands at 196 per 1,00,000 population, instead of the 210 estimated by the WHO, and the estimated deaths from the communicable disease stand at 3.20 lakh, instead of the 4.94 lakh that was projected in 2021. The TB model was drawn up by using data from several sources, including the Nikshay portal of private sector drug sales, the sub-national certification system where the TB-free status of various States is estimated and ranked. India is currently holding the board chairmanship of the “Stop TB initiative” that is running in at least 40 countries under the “Stop TB” banner.
