{"id":34063,"date":"2023-03-24T11:07:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T05:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34063"},"modified":"2025-04-20T08:35:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T03:05:34","slug":"world-tb-day-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/world-tb-day-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"World TB Day 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is One World TB Summit?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Tuberculosis?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How many TB cases are detected each year in India?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is India\u2019s TB elimination target?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What steps are being taken to achieve this target?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the improvements in treatment protocols?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Each year, the World TB Day is celebrated on March 24. This year\u2019s theme is \u2018<strong>Yes! We can end TB!\u2019<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This year, on World TB Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the One World TB Summit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is One World TB Summit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>One World TB Summit is being organised on World Tuberculosis Day at Rudrakash Convention Centre in Varanasi.<\/li>\n<li>It is being organised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Stop TB Partnership.\n<ul>\n<li>Founded in 2001, the Stop TB Partnership is a <u>United Nations-hosted organisation<\/u> that amplifies the voices of the people, communities, and countries affected by TB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Tuberculosis?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>TB is a <strong>bacterial infection<\/strong> spread through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.\n<ul>\n<li>Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria is responsible for TB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It mainly affects the lungs, but it can affect any part of the body, including the tummy (abdomen), glands, bones and nervous system.<\/li>\n<li>TB is a potentially serious condition, but <u>it can be cured if it&#8217;s treated with the right antibiotics<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How many TB cases are detected each year in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><u>India accounts for 28% of all TB cases in the world<\/u>, according to the Global TB Report 2022.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>There were 21.3 lakh cases detected in 2021 as compared to 18.05 lakh cases in 2020.<\/li>\n<li>India continues to be the largest contributor to global TB cases. However, there has been a decline in the number of cases in 2021.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is India\u2019s TB elimination target?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Although <strong>elimination of Tuberculosis<\/strong> is one of the sustainable development targets to be achieved by 2030 by the world, <strong><u>India has set the target of 2025<\/u><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>national strategic plan 2017-2025<\/strong> sets the target of India reporting no more than 44 new TB cases or 65 total cases per lakh population by 2025.\n<ul>\n<li>The programme aims to <u>reduce the mortality to 3 deaths per lakh population by 2025<\/u>.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>The estimated TB mortality for the year 2020 stood at 37 per lakh population.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The plan also aims to reduce <u>catastrophic costs for the affected family to zero<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The goals are in line with the <strong>World Health Organisation\u2019s End TB strategy<\/strong> that calls for <u>80% reduction in the number of new cases, 90% reduction in mortality, and zero catastrophic cost by 2030<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What steps are being taken to achieve this target?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>To achieve the TB elimination target of 2025, the government has taken several steps including:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>looking for cases actively among vulnerable and co-morbid populations,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>screening for it at the health and wellness centres, and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>calling on the private sector to notify all TB cases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>An online <strong>Ni-kshay portal<\/strong> has been set up to track the notified TB cases.<\/li>\n<li>The pandemic has led to improved access to the more accurate molecular diagnostic tests like CB-NAAT and TureNat.\n<ul>\n<li>At present, there are 4,760 molecular diagnostic machines available, covering all districts of the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The government has also <u>implemented a universal drug susceptibility test<\/u>.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>It means that antibiotic susceptibility of the mycobacterium is determined for all newly diagnosed cases.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Earlier, the patients were started on first line treatment and were tested for drug resistance only if the therapy did not work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The government also launched the community engagement programme where <strong>Ni-kshay mitras<\/strong> <u>can adopt TB patients and provide them monthly nutritional support<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>So far, 71,460 Ni-kshay Mitras have adopted about 10 lakh TB patients under the programme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the improvements in treatment protocols?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Newer drugs such as Bedaquiline and Delamanid<\/u> for the treatment of drug-resistant TB have been included in the government\u2019s basket of drugs provided free to TB patients.<\/li>\n<li>These new drugs have also been included in the <strong>new National List of Essential Medicines<\/strong> that gives the government power to regulate their market price as well.<\/li>\n<li>Researchers have also been studying <u>shorter three- and four-month courses of anti-tubercular drugs<\/u>, <u>instead of the existing six-month therapy<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>Anti-tubercular drugs have to be taken for six months to over two years depending on the susceptibility of the mycobacterium.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Long duration of treatment results in people dropping out in between, increasing their likelihood of them developing drug-resistant infections later.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0What are Ni-kshay Mitras?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ni-kshay Mitras is a term used in the context of tuberculosis (TB) control in India. The term &#8220;Ni-kshay&#8221; means &#8220;end TB&#8221; in Hindi, and &#8220;Mitras&#8221; means &#8220;friends.&#8221; Ni-kshay Mitras are community volunteers who are trained to support TB patients throughout their treatment journey and help them complete the full course of treatment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong> <strong>Which vaccine is used for the prevention against TB?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Bacille Calmette-Gu\u00e9rin (BCG) vaccine is the only vaccine currently available for the prevention of tuberculosis (TB). The BCG vaccine is made from a weakened strain of Mycobacterium bovis, a bacterium that causes TB in cattle. When given to humans, the vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce a response that can protect against TB.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-health\/world-tb-day-how-india-plans-to-achieve-its-target-of-eliminating-tb-by-2025-8515410\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>World TB Day 2023: How India plans to achieve its target of eliminating tuberculosis by 2025<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/campaigns\/world-tb-day\/2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>World Health Organisation<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theprint.in\/india\/pm-modi-to-address-one-world-tb-summit-in-varanasi-today\/1468375\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Print<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}