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Tuberculosis: A National Menace

Every year 24th March is celebrated as World TB without blood), breathless-
Day commemorating the ness or shortness of breath,
discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bac- loss of appetite, weight loss
teria that causes TB) by and night sweats. If some-
Dr Robert Koch in 1882. When we think of TB, we one has some or any of the
usually think of a symptoms which are ex-
respiratory disease affecting the lung whichis the aggerating with time one
most common presentation needs to consult a doctor
but it does not limit itself to just lungs, it has the immediately. If left untreat-
potential to affect every part and organ of the body ed TB can cause lung fi- Dr. Shikhar Prasad
S/o Kishor Prasad,
from Brain to Bone except Hair and Nails. Although brosis, respiratory failure, DIG, Range, New Delhi
there are diseases much more severe than TB, the spread to other organs and
global burden of TB and its imprint on India is a hindering their functions.
huge challenge. The impact on India is more What are the challenges in eradicat-
concerning given the fact that our coun- ing TB from India? First is the social
try already carries a myriad of health stigma with the disease and taking
disorders ranging from Dengue to the disease lightly which leads to
Malaria to Hypertension and Dia- delayed diagnosis of the disease
betes, when coupled with TB it be- causing more disease morbidi-
comes a double-edged sword. ty and mortality in addition to
the spread of infection to oth-
WHO (World Health organiza- ers. Social stigma also causes
tion) report says every day 3,500 social exclusion of patients
people worldwide lose their lives leading to under reporting
to TB and around 30,000 become of cases giving rise to Tip of
affected with the bacteria. In- Iceberg phenomena.
dia alone accounts for 27% of the
global TB cases, this is very concern- ing Second, Poor healthcare and Infra-
given the fact that TB is a detectable and curable structure. Though we are upgrading and ex-
disease and treatment regimes have been part of panding our health system to reach last mile
the existing health systems for a long time. In India connectiv- ity still there are miles to go given that
this disease is largely affecting poor and vulnerable we have a huge population to cater. As per State of
as evident in India TB report 2024 by Ministry of Healthcare in Rural India 2024 report only 39% have
Health and Family Welfare which said nearly 7.44 access to diagnostic facility within commutable dis-
lakh TB patients were undernourished in 2022 and tance and 90% of people do not undergo routine
people living with HIV have a 20 times higher risk health checkups unless recommended by a doctor.
of developing TB than normal population. To sum-
marize we can definitely say that India is a global TB Third, Poverty and Malnutrition. Multidimensional
hotspot. Poverty Index which takes into account 3 key dimen-
sions – Education, Health and Living standards states
Coming to the mode of infection TB spreads by inha- that 16.4% of people in India are Multidimensional-
lational route, source of infectivity is an active open ly poor. The State of Food security and nutrition in
case of TB to a susceptible individual. The way can world report 2023 says around 74% of India’s popu-
be through coughing, sneezing, etc. The disease can lation could not afford a healthy diet. As per National
be asymptomatic but generally presents with symp- Family Health Survey 5 35.5% of children under five
toms such as fever (particularly in evening), weak- years are stunted (low height for age), 32.1% are un-
ness, prolonged cough (more than 2 weeks with or derweight and 3% are overweight showing the prev-