India should intensify TB control drive -- WHO

India should intensify TB control drive -- WHO
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, SEPT 10: India should intensify its tuberculosis control drive, both within and outside the Government, given the alarming high incidence of the disease, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report has warned.

TB has emerged as the leading single infectious cause of death in the country, far ahead of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other tropical diseases, the report prepared by WHO's South-East Asia regional unit said.

India that accounts for largest cases of tuberculosis inthe world -- nearly 30 per cent of global tuberculosis cases in the world -- could ill-afford to deal with the problem lackadaisically, it added.

The report highlighted inadequate budgets, lack of coverage in some parts of the country, varying standards of care at the district centres, unmotivated and unevenly trained staff and lack of equipment as the major reasons for the unsatisfactory impact of the TB control efforts in the past years.

The report said the burden of TB in India is 36 times more than leprosy, 13 times more than malaria, 2.5 times more than tropical diseases and 36 per cent more than HIV/AIDS.

Stating that more adults in India die from TB than anyother infectious disease -- 1000 every year -- the report noted that social stigma attached to TB as a big factor for its lower treatment rate.

The report said the rapid spread of HIV in India further compounds the problem as HIV will have a major bearing on the TB epidemic in the country.

Infection with HIV is the most potent known risk factor for progression to active tuberculosis among adults. Conversely TB hastens the development of aids in hiv-infected persons, it added.

Widespread Multidrug Resistance in TB Bacteria (MDRTB) has also complicated the problem.

In a country like India, MDRTB is almost the equivalent of a "death sentence", as very few patients have the financial capacity or the stamina to complete the long treatment regimen required, the report said.