Context

• According to the latest report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), India accounted for 27 per cent of total tuberculosis (TB) cases, followed by China with 9 per cent, Indonesia at 8 per cent, Pakistan (6 per cent) and Bangladesh (4 per cent).

Details:

• The report notes that in 2017, India had 27.4 lakh TB patients which came down to 26.9 lakh in 2018. Incidence per 1,00,000 population has decreased from 204 in 2017 to 199 in 2018. 
• The number of patients being tested for rifampicin resistance has increased from 32% in 2017 to 46% in 2018. And the treatment success rate has increased to 81% for new and relapse cases (drug-sensitive) in 2017, which was 69% in 2016.
• India also had the maximum number of drug-resistant TB which is 27 per cent of a total 130,000 drug-resistant TB cases while China had 14 per cent in such cases. Globally, 7 million new cases of TB were notified in 2018, an increase from 6.4 million in 2017.
• TB remains the top infectious killer in the world claiming over 4,000 lives a day. This report presents progress towards targets set at the first-ever United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on TB in 2018, that brought together heads of state, as well as the targets of the WHO End TB Strategy and Sustainable Development Goals.

Source: TH