Dr. T. Rama Prasad's Scribblings...: World TB Day 2026

For more on TB, written by Dr. T. Rama Prasad, click on :

(1) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2023/01/tuberculosis-in-2026.html

(2) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tb-and-covid.html

(3) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tuberculosis-in-india_29.html

(4) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2023/01/tuberculosis-drug-resistant.html

(5) Rama Prasad, T., COVID and Tuberculosis. The Antiseptic, 2021 December;

Vol. 118; No.12; P: 11-17; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

WORLD TB DAY -- March 24, 2026

Writer : T. Rama Prasad

Email ID : drtramaprasad@gmail.com

OPENPAGE, THE HINDU

On March 24, 1882, Robert Koch announced to the Berlin Physiological Society that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis (TB) – TB bacillus. To commemorate this, March 24 is celebrated as World TB Day. It is ironical that India, despite being the fastest growing economy in the world, continues to grapple with a high burden of TB, an age-old disease, both preventable and curable. India has the highest (2.5 million TB patients) tuberculosis (TB) burden globally, consistently accounting for around 25-27% of the world's TB cases despite significant progress in recent years.

OVERAMBITIOUS : India's National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) — formerly the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) — aims to eliminate TB (reducing incidence by 80% and deaths by 90% from 2015 levels, with zero catastrophic costs for patients) ahead of the global 2030 target. India set an ambitious goal to achieve this by 2025, but the country has missed that deadline, as progress — while impressive — has not reached the required scale amid challenges like undernutrition, socioeconomic disparities, rural diagnostic gaps, and drug resistance.

The government of India worked hard for elimination of TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global target of 2030. The India’s ‘National Strategic Plan (NSP)’ aimed for elimination of TB by 2025. But the country is nowhere close to that goal. Statistics on the current scenario of TB in the country indicate that elimination of TB in India anytime soon might actually be an overambitious goal, despite the favourable trends reported by official statistics. No doubt, the progress is admirable. As the tenure of the NSP for Tuberculosis Elimination (2017- 25) of the Government of India draws to a close, a review of the status of TB in the country becomes imperative now in 2026.

Key initiatives included:

Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan — Community-driven support via "Ni-kshay Mitras" (adopters providing nutritional/vocational aid).
Widespread use of advanced diagnostics (e.g., molecular tests, AI tools), decentralized services, and schemes like Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (nutrition support).
Screening of vulnerable populations, preventive treatment for contacts, and handling of drug-resistant TB with newer regimens.

DRUG RESISTANCE : India accounts for more than a quarter of the global incidence of TB, and features as a ‘High Burden Country’ of ‘Drug-resistant TB’, for more than a decade now. India accounted for over 32% of global ‘multidrug-resistant/rifampicin-resistant (MDR/RR-TB)’ cases in 2024, remaining a major challenge. Half-a-century ago, I wrote in the columns of THE HINDU of April 28, 1977 that " … development of drug resistance, which is a result of inadequate and irregular treatment mostly, has far-reaching implications and if unchecked would make tuberculosis totally unmanageable by the present methods in course of time, whatever be the means.”

SYSTEMIC FAILURE : Data on TB notifications from the NIKSHAY portal of the government of India reveals an increasing trend in the number of notified TB cases between 2017 and 2024. Despite a public TB control programme providing standard, free-of-cost diagnosis and treatment to TB patients, running for decades now all over the country with revisions in structures and nomenclatures, the incidence of TB in India remains appallingly high. There is a dearth of public health infrastructure and meagre overall share of health expenditure of India’s GDP.

INADEQUATE AWARENESS : There has been a weak advocacy around TB with limited political commitment, and a perpetual underinvestment by the government. Despite investments by the Union health ministry on campaigns like “TB Harega, Desh Jeetega”, involving popular celebrities like Amitabh Bachhan, awareness about TB is poor among the masses. Stigma, often, holds them back from availing the good cost-free facilities.

Challenges

Undernutrition contributes to 50% of India's TB burden.
High MDR-TB rates and occasional drug shortages.
Gaps in rural access and persistent stigma delaying care.
Socioeconomic factors and overcrowding fuel transmission.

Despite missing the 2025 target, India's accelerated decline, high treatment coverage, and innovations position it as a leader among high-burden countries, with continued multi-sectoral efforts needed to approach elimination in the coming years. For the most current official data, refer to the WHO Global TB Report or India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare updates.

MEDIA APATHY : And, unfortunately, there has been minimal concern and involvement of the media to generate large-scale public awareness about this disease. A death due to an odd virus grabs headlines while 1,000 deaths every day in India due to TB goes unreported by the media. It is high time TB receives the attention long overdue and the backing of strong political will so that its elimination no longer remains a goal on paper but is actually realised.

T. Rama Prasad

Some writings, presentations, papers and comments related to TUBERCULOSIS by Dr. T. Rama Prasad:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/a-bad-patch/article31069356.ece

2. Five years Plans and TB Control Programme (Special Article) -

The Hindu, Vol.101, No. 275, November 24,1978

3. How effective is the TB control programme ? (Special Article) -

The Hindu, Vol.100, No. 274, p.8, 1977.

4. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/yellow-nail syndrome_28.html

5. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tuberculosis-in-india_29.html

6. Rama Prasad, T., COVID and Tuberculosis. The Antiseptic, 2021 December;

Vol. 118; No.12; P: 11-17; Indexed in IndMED -- www.antiseptic.in

7. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tb-and-covid.html

8. Drug Resistance in Tuberculosis - Journal of the Indian Medical

Association, Vol. 64, pp. 264-267, 1975.

9. Childhood Tuberculosis - Part I - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, pp. 449-504,1979

10. Childhood Tuberculosis - Part II - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76. pp. 567-574, 1979

11. Short-course Chemotherapy - The recent Advances in the Treatment

of Respiratory Tuberculosis - Current Medical Practice, Vol.24,

pp. 41-46, 1980.

12. Drugs in the treatment of Tuberculosis - The Antiseptic,

Vol. 75, p.678, 1978

13. Chemotherapy of Tuberculosis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, p.248, 1979.

14. Streptomycin in Tuberculosis - The Antiseptic, Vol. 76, p.516, 1979.

15. National Tuberculosis Control Programme - views presented,

on invitation by theTuberculosis Association of India, at the 32nd

National Conference on Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, 1977.

16. Correlation between Geomagnetic Activity and Haemoptysis -

paper presented at the II Tamil Nadu State Conference on Tuberculosis

& Chest Diseases, 1980.

17. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2023/01/tuberculosis-in-2026.html

18. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tb-and-covid.html World TB Day –

TB & COVID

19. https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2023/01/tuberculosis-drug-resistant.html

20. BCG and COVID

****************************************

India has the highest tuberculosis (TB) burden globally, consistently accounting for around 25-27% of the world's TB cases despite significant progress in recent years.

According to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2025 (released in November 2025), key statistics for India include:

TB incidence (new cases per year) declined by 21% from 237 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 187 per 100,000in 2024. This reduction is nearly double the global decline rate of 12% over the same period.
Estimated 2.7 million people developed TB in India in 2024 (out of a global total of about 10.7-10.8 million cases).
TB mortality decreased from 28 deaths per 100,000 population in 2015 to 21 per 100,000 in 2024.
In 2024, India diagnosed and notified approximately 26.18 lakh (2.618 million) TB patients, achieving treatment coverage of over 92% (up from 53% in 2015), out of an estimated 27 lakh cases.
Treatment success rates reached 90% for drug-susceptible TB (ahead of the global average of 88%), though lower for drug-resistant forms.
India accounted for over 32% of global multidrug-resistant/rifampicin-resistant (MDR/RR-TB) cases in 2024, remaining a major challenge.

As of early 2026, no major new global report has superseded these 2024-based figures from the 2025 WHO report, though ongoing efforts continue to drive reductions.

National Efforts and Targets

India's National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) — formerly the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) — aims to eliminate TB (reducing incidence by 80% and deaths by 90% from 2015 levels, with zero catastrophic costs for patients) ahead of the global 2030 target. India set an ambitious goal to achieve this by 2025, but the country has missed that deadline, as progress — while impressive — has not reached the required scale amid challenges like undernutrition, socioeconomic disparities, rural diagnostic gaps, and drug resistance.

Key initiatives include:

Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan — Community-driven support via "Ni-kshay Mitras" (adopters providing nutritional/vocational aid).
Widespread use of advanced diagnostics (e.g., molecular tests, AI tools), decentralized services, and schemes like Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana (nutrition support).
Screening of vulnerable populations, preventive treatment for contacts, and handling of drug-resistant TB with newer regimens.

States with the highest burden include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, while Delhi has high prevalence rates.

Challenges

Undernutrition contributes to 50% of India's TB burden.
High MDR-TB rates and occasional drug shortages.
Gaps in rural access and persistent stigma delaying care.
Socioeconomic factors and overcrowding fuel transmission.

The first outbreak of COVID in the world was reported in China on the very next day (31.12.2019) of taking the above photo on 30.12.2019 !!!

CLICK ON : (1) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2023/01/tuberculosis-in-2026.html

(2) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/dr-t-rama-prasad.html

(3) https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/tb-and-covid.html

To know a little about PERUNDURAI SANATORIUM & MEDICAL COLLEGE, click on :

https://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/04/perundurai-medical-college-sanatorium_29.html

A brief introduction

In the words of Prof C H Sivaraman, FRCP (London):

“ ... Dr. T. Rama Prasad belongs to a distinctly different and unconventional species of doctors. He speaks sparingly and does not even display his qualifications or merits, but his innumerable published writings (he calls them ‘scribblings’ though they are ‘pearls of wisdom and knowledge’, sprinkled with a bit of humour and sarcasm) which received wide acclaim talk eloquently for him. The ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ Clinic where services are available for which one may pay whatever one can is a facility run by Dr. Prasad for a very long time which could be a world record. Dr. Prasad is called a “god” by his patients, and many of them named their children after his name “Prasad” -- that is the height of recognition of goodness of a human being.."

Service to Humanity is service to God; Kindness costs nothing

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The following is a list of some of my 'scribblings', including a few from the 28 articles on COVID published in a monthly medical journal in 30 months (a world record). To open them, click on any of the titles. -- T. Rama Prasad

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