Karnataka heads towards meeting India’s ambitious TB elimination goal, incidence drops by 40% from 2015 baseline Premium

Karnataka heads towards meeting India’s ambitious TB elimination goal, incidence drops by 40% from 2015 baseline Premium

Keeping in line with India’s ambitious goal of tuberculosis (TB) elimination by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) timeline of 2030, Karnataka has reduced its TB incidence by 40% compared to the 2015 baseline. The incidence of TB that was 176 cases per lakh in 2015, has dippped to 104 per lakh in 2024.

Although the number of notifications dropped marginally by 3% in 2024, the number of TB deaths in the State decreased from 5,115 in 2023 to 3,711 in 2024. While a total of 78,018 notifications were recorded in 2024, (including 28,280 private notifications) 81,757 and 79,995 notifications were recorded in 2023 and 2022 respectively. 

TB has been a notifiable disease in the country since May 2012. Despite awareness regarding mandatory TB notification, a significant number of private practitioners do not report cases, and this has led to cases being missed in government data. Missing cases that are lost to follow-up are one of the prime reasons behind the quick spread of the infection.

With the vision of a TB-Free India, wherein free diagnostic and quality assured treatment is provided to all TB patients, the State started a 100-day TB case detection campaign on December 7, under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP).

Ansar Ahmed, State Project Director, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), said Karnataka has reached the halfway mark in eradicating TB. “The Government of India is aggressively pursuing the goal of advancing SDG targets to ending TB in India. Targets for achieving this ambitious goal are: 80% decline in annual TB incidence rate (from 2015 baseline), 90% decline in death due to TB (from 2015 baseline), and zero catastrophic expenditure due to TB.,” he said.

“To achieve this goal, the National Strategic Plan 2017-2025 has been chalked out under the NTEP. Early diagnosis of individuals with TB through high quality testing, and proactive community outreach to find missing cases in vulnerable populations is a major goal of NTEP,” Dr. Ahmed said.

In 2023, the prevalence of HIV positivity among TB patients in Karnataka was the 10th highest in the country after Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Haryana, according to data outlined in the India TB Report 2024.

A total of 77,406 (96%) of the total TB patients notified in Karnataka have a known HIV status. This includes 65,168 (97%) of public notifications and 12,238 (93%) of private notifications. The management of these cases is being monitored under NTEP and the TB treatment success rate for TB-HIV co-infected cases is 75%, stated the report.

Stigma however, still prevails in the community and almost 60% of those symptomatic with TB did not seek care as per the National Prevalence Survey, 2022. Lack of awareness regarding the right nutrition required and the prevalence of under-nutrition in the community drives progression from TB infection to TB disease. Almost 46% of TB cases notified under NTEP are undernourished, according to the India TB Report 2024.